Boston University Claims Apple Ripped off a Computer Engineering Professor’s Patent

According to a report from the Boston Herald, Apple is reportedly being sued by the Boston University for infringing the patent belonging to one of its professors.

“Boston University is taking on the richest consumer electronics company on the planet, claiming Apple ripped off a computer engineering professor’s patented electronic semiconductor and stuffed it into the world’s most popular devices” Jessica Van Sack reports for the Boston Herald. “In a bombshell lawsuit filed yesterday in U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, the university alleges that a small electronic component patented by computer engineering professor Theodore D. Moustakas in 1997 is included in the iPhone 5, iPad, and MacBook Air.”

“Defendant’s acts of infringement have caused and will continue to cause substantial and irreparable damage to the University,” BU alleges in its complaint.

“BU has filed a total of eight identical claims against smaller manufacturers and device-makers as well as two other high-profile companies, Samsung and Amazon, in the past year, Jessica Van Sack continues. “Though patent trolling is frowned upon, if the university can show its professor intended to make a business out of his invention, BU may have a case.”