Apple’s Latest Batch Of iPhone Patent Lawsuits

Another day, another patent lawsuit being brought against Apple. Though the company is no stranger to patent infringement cases, the latest round definitely seems to be a bit surprising.

Unlike the longstanding patent war between Samsung and Apple that has dominated headlines in recent years, Fortune reported on Monday (May 23) that a new patent lawsuit against Apple concerns very standard features of iPhones and iPads, including making phone calls and sending and receiving email messages.

According to Apple-tracking site Patently Apple, Corydoras Technologies has brought a total of six patent infringement claims against Apple in its lawsuit, with claims dating back to the iPhone 4 and each iPad model since the iPad 2.

The lawsuit also states that Apple violated Corydoras’ patents to video calling with the FaceTime functionality, as well as the ability to display a user’s geographic location via the Find My iPhone capability and being able to block calls.

Corydoras Technologies has quickly gained the label of being a “patent troll,” meaning its only real business function is acquiring patents and then suing businesses that it believes have infringed on its intellectual property.

Earlier this year, a court decided Apple must pay $626 million in damages for patent infringement connected to iMessage, FaceTime and other Apple software — a case it lost to yet another patent troll.

The plaintiff in the case, VirnetX, was in court with Apple since 2012 and held nearly 80 patents — four of which form the basis of the case against Apple.

VirnetX is a somewhat successful patent trolling operation. In 2010, it settled out of court with Microsoft for $200 million and filed a new case against it last year. It lost a patent case brought against Cisco.