Man Claims Apple Stole His iPhone Design and Files $10 bn Lawsuit

Could Apple have possibly stolen the revered design of iPhone from this man?

Everyone knows that the Apple iPhone is made in China. But this latest twist in the iPhone tale makes us question everything we thought we knew!

According to reports, a man in the US claims that he designed the look of the iPhone even before Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone to the world back in 2007.

A Florida-based businessman has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against Apple, alleging that the tech giant stole his designs from a utility patent he filed in 1992 to make the iPhone, iPad and iPod devices.

Thomas S Ross claimed in his lawsuit that Apple’s devices are derivatives of his technical drawings’ first sketch that he submitted with the US Copyright Office as part of his patent application for an ‘Electronic Reading Device’ (ERD) 24 years ago.

The application evidenced that Ross was the first to file a device so designed and aggregated as to have created a novel combination of media and communication tools that Ross called ERD, and whose identity was, since then, hijacked and exploited by Apple’s iPhones, iPods, iPads and, others.

Lawsuit

Ross’s concept, which never went further than the design stage, would allow a user to read news articles and view images and videos on a flat touchscreen surface.

Ross’s patent application was abandoned in 1995 by USPTO after the businessman failed to pay the fees. In 2014, Ross also filed to copyright his technical drawings with the US Copyright Office.

But Ross doesn’t just want the $10 billion as compensation, he is also seeking 1.5 percent royalties on all future iOS device sales, and a jury trial.

If Apple is found guilty, then the likes of Samsung, HTC and multiple Chinese brands will surely have something to add to this drama.