Over on the legal end, St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants has announced that the company is suing Apple, claiming that the iPhone infringes upon several digital camera patents. In the past, St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants has leveraged its patents as a major profit center and scored a $35 million payout from Canon in 2003 as well as a $25 million award from Sony back in 2001 in other patent infringement cases.

Whether Apple will choose to fight or settle remains to be seen. Many companies—among them LG, Motorola, and Sanyo—have chosen to pay SCIPC licensing fees for use of their patented technology, instead of going to trial.

The complaint was filed on October 26th in Delaware and is available here. As the thrilling filing details, SCIPC is specifically suing Apple for violating Patent 5,138,459, entitled “Electronic Still Video Camera with Direct Personal Computer (PC) Compatible Digital Formal Output.”

[Via TG Daily]

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