A man in Florida is claiming that he invented the iPhone, iPad, and iPod all the way back in 1992, and he has the receipts that (at least in his mind) prove he's the inventor of one of the world's favorite lines of products. Thomas S. Ross doesn't want much for what he claims are his inventions, just a cool $10 billion from Apple Inc.
On June 27, Ross filed a lawsuit in California against Apple for "misappropriation of intellectual property and copyright infringements." Ross filed patents in 1992 for various "electronic reading devices," which the lawsuit claims were ripped off by Apple to create the iPhones, iPads, and iPods. In addition to the $10 billion in damages, Ross is seeking 1.5 percent in royalties for the products he claims to have originally invented.
The 40-page lawsuit contains images of the devices that Ross filed patents for back in the '90s, which definitely resemble some contemporary electronic readers, but whether or not the patents were knocked off by Apple will be up to a jury to decide (Ross demanded a jury trial for his complaint).
Not in Ross' favor is the fact that the device he patented doesn't directly resemble Apple products. Principally, Ross' product has a keyboard, the absence of which was the main innovation of the iPhone.
The iPhone was released in 2007, the iPod in 2001, and the iPad in 2010.
Thomas Ross and Apple Inc. did not immediately reply to Complex's requests for comment.
