A man who claims to have invented the iPhone 15 years before Apple began selling it is suing the tech giant nearly 25 years later for copyright infringement.
Thomas Ross of Florida in the US launched the proceedings last week seeking a whopping $US10 billion in compensation, plus forfeit of patents. The claim dwarfs a previously successful patent infringement case in which Samsung paid just $US548 million to Apple.
It all centres around a design Ross came up with in 1992 for an "electronic reading device", which featured a back-lit touchscreen, wireless communication capability, and rounded edges.
Ross, a former software engineer who now manages a law firm, told The Guardian he spent more than a year on the design. He filed a US patent for the design in November 1992, but it was marked as 'abandoned' three years later because he failed to pay the required fees. In the absence of a patent, Ross is now pursuing Apple under copyright law.
Ross told The Guardian Apple's iconic iPhone, iPod and iPad were the "very essence" of the design, noting the late founder Steve Jobs' admission in 1996 that Apple was "shameless about stealing great ideas".
"Instead of creating its own ideas", Ross said, "Apple chose to adopt a culture of dumpster diving as an R&D strategy".
Last year Ross' lawyer sent present Apple chief executive Tim Cook a cease and desist letter asking him to stop distributing the infringing products, according to the media outlet. That clearly didn't work.
Apple's legal counsel Jeffrey Lasker told The Guardian Ross' case was useless because the design bore little resemblance to Apple's products, and Ross had no evidence Apple had even seen the design.
Ross filed the law suit with the Florida southern district court on June 27. He is representing himself.
"In spite of the odds, I feel that I have a shot at it," he told The Guardian.
The first generation iPhone went on sale in June 2007. It's unclear why Ross waited a decade before launching the proceedings.
