As the Apple Turns: Scene 3214: Finally, The End Of An Error (8/1/01)

Finally, The End Of An Error (8/1/01)

Oh, the ambivalence! In Frankenstein-speak, "$1.1 billion lawsuit bad... ensuing comical press releases good!!" In other words, we were happy for Apple's sake when the court threw out Imatec's infringement claim against Apple for allegedly using patented technology in ColorSync, but man, did we ever miss hearing from Imatec's one-man press nightmare, Dr. Hanoch Shalit. You remember this guy, right? Back when the case was still active, he used to issue six press releases each day-- and that was just before having his morning coffee. If Apple introduced a new iMac, there'd be an Imatec press release reminding people that those new iMacs ship with ColorSync, and that Imatec is suing Apple. If Apple announced a quarterly profit, there was Hanoch with a press release about how that money would soon be Imatec's. If Steve caught a cold, you guessed it-- press release, probably noting that Apple's CEO was clearly being divinely smitten for infringing patents.

Well, after the case was thrown out, Imatec sort of collapsed in on itself, with good ol' Hanoch departing the organization with a healthy half-mil in severance pay and all his image-processing intellectual property, such as it was. So what became of Hanoch's last hurrah, in which he issued a press release basically insulting the judge who ruled against him and announcing his plans to appeal the court's decision? We've long wondered if the Hanochless Imatec continued the appeals process, or if it just crumbled into dust. (The company's old web site no longer works, so for all we knew, "Imatec Lite" had just plain fallen off the face of the earth.)

But here comes faithful viewer Jeff Richardson to the rescue, who noticed an article over at Law.com about the case. Evidently Imatec and/or Hanoch did continue the appeals process-- and the Appeals Court just smacked it down again. Siding with the original judge's decision completely, the Appeals Court ruled that, "having properly concluded that Dr. Shalit did not own the rights to the patent, the district court correctly concluded that both he and Imatec lacked standing to bring this infringement suit." Meaning, bye-bye appeal-- and a second bittersweet farewell to Hanoch, as well.

Speaking of Hanoch, we were especially tickled finally to hear some details about why he lost his case so completely. Apparently Apple's lawyers managed to find "an agreement between Shalit and a company he once worked for which ascribed rights to the technology to the company." Yes, folks, all that noise over a potential $3.3 billion loss for Apple (if treble damages had been awarded, as Imatec was seeking), and Shalit never even owned the patents in question in the first place. Man, we miss that guy!

SceneLink (3214)

And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors

Mash-ups and original music by AtAT's former Intern and Goddess-in-Training

The above scene was taken from the 8/1/01 episode:

August 1, 2001: Leaked prerelease versions of Mac OS X 10.1 find their way onto the 'net, and some foolhardy souls are discovering that the performance boosts are very real. Meanwhile, word has it that things are chilly with Adobe right now because Apple is gearing up to ship iPhoto, and Imatec's back-- just long enough for the appeal in its $1.1 billion patent infringement lawsuit against Apple to get shattered into a gazillion pieces...

Other scenes from that episode:

3212: The Great Wiener Dog Race (8/1/01) Happy August! Gosh, we do love the changing of the months; we get to start writing 8s instead of 7s on our checks, there's a new wiener dog picture on the kitchen calendar, and-- best of all-- we can officially start talking about how Mac OS X 10.1 is due "next month."...
3213: The iPhotoshop Feud Of 2001 (8/1/01) The way we see it, you can choose to interpret relations between Apple and Adobe in one of two ways. The first is that we're talking about two large and mature corporations who always behave rationally and in the best interests of their respective shareholders; in that scenario, Adobe's decision to skip the last Macworld Expo was purely a financial choice and its visible lack of Mac OS X-native applications is due entirely to porting difficulties and the need to allocate resources to more pressing projects...

Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast...


	As an Amazon Associate, AtAT earns from qualifying purchases


	DISCLAIMER: AtAT was not a news site any more than Inside Edition was a "real" news show. We made Dawson's Creek look like 60 Minutes. We engaged in rampant guesswork, wild speculation, and pure fabrication for the entertainment of our viewers. Sure, everything here was "inspired by actual events," but so was Amityville II: The Possession. So lighten up. Site best viewed with a sense of humor. AtAT is not responsible for lost or stolen articles. Keep hands inside car at all times. The drinking of beverages while watching AtAT is strongly discouraged; AtAT is not responsible for damage, discomfort, or staining caused by spit-takes or "nosers." Everything you see here that isn't attributed to other parties is copyright ©,1997-2024 J. Miller and may not be reproduced or rebroadcast without his explicit consent (or possibly the express written consent of Major League Baseball, but we doubt it).