Apple Pays $25 Million in Settlement Over Cover Flow, Time Machine Patents
 

Apple will pay $25 million to settle a patent lawsuit with Network-1 Tech**logies' subsidiary Mirror World Tech**logies and license its patents, the companies an**unced today. The patent*(**. 6,006,227)*dates back to 1999, covering a system that stores documents in a stream ordered chro**logically, similar to Apple's Cover Flow or Time Machine.

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Under the terms of the agreement, Apple will receive a fully paid up **n-exclusive license to the '227 Patent for its full term, which expired in 2016, along with certain rights to other patents in Network-1's portfolio. Network-1 will receive*$25 million*from Apple for the settlement and fully paid up license.

The tech**logies described in the patent were developed from the work of Yale University computer scientist Professor David Gelernter and his then-graduate student Dr. Eric Freeman in 1996. They then founded Mirror Worlds LLC, which began a long-running legal fight with Apple over the patent. In 2010, Apple was hit with a $625 million judgment over the patent. A year later, Apple won a reversal of the decision and the judge closed the case in Apple's favor.

In 2013, Mirror Worlds was purchased by Network-1 and the company acquired Mirror World's patents. Network-1 describes itself as a company "engaged in the development, licensing and protection of its intellectual property and proprietary tech**logies." Last year, the company also reached a settlement with Microsoft for $4.6 million over the same patent.

Tags: patent, USPTO, lawsuits

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