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The multinational technology corporation Apple Inc. has been a participant in various legal proceedings and claims since it began operation and, like its competitors and peers, engages in litigation in its normal course of business for a variety of reasons. In particular, Apple is known for and promotes itself as actively and aggressively enforcing its intellectual property interests.〔(Remembering Steve Jobs ), General Patent Corporation, generalpatent.com, 2012-2. Accessed April 13, 2012. * Worthington, David, (Apple's Lawsuit Against HTC: Bad for Consumers? ), PCWorld, pcworld.com, March 4, 2010. Accessed 2012-4-13. * (Apple Legal – Piracy Prevention ), Apple, Inc., apple.com. Accessed 2012-7-22.〕〔Moses, Lee, and Asher, Julian, (Apple's future won't be brought to you by the letter 'i' ), ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (SMH), smh.com.au, March 12, 2010. Accessed 2012-4-13.〕 From the 1980s to the present, Apple has been plaintiff or defendant in civil actions in the United States and other countries. Some of these actions have determined significant case law for the information technology industry and many have captured the attention of the public and media. Apple's litigation generally involves intellectual property disputes, but the company has also been a party in lawsuits that include antitrust claims, consumer actions, commercial unfair trade practice suits, defamation claims, and corporate espionage, among other matters. ==Background== Apple is a member of the Business Software Alliance (BSA), whose principal activity is trying to stop copyright infringement of software produced by BSA members; Apple treats all its intellectual property as a business asset, engaging in litigation as one method among many to police its assets and to respond to claims by others against it.〔(Apple Trademarks – Piracy Policy ), Apple, Inc., apple.com. Accessed April 12, 2012.〕 Apple's portfolio of intellectual property is broad enough, for trademarks alone, to encompass several pages of the company's web site and, in April 2012, it listed 176 general business trademarks, 79 service marks, 7 trademarks related to NeXT products and services, and 2 trademarks related to FileMaker.〔(Apple trademark list ), and (NeXT trademark list ), Apple, Inc., apple.com. (Filemaker trademark list ), FileMaker, Inc., filemaker.com. Accessed April 12, 2012.〕 Apple claims copyright interests in multiple products and processes and owns and licenses patents of various types as well and, while it states it generally does not license its patent portfolio, it does work with third parties having an interest in product interoperability.〔(Apple Legal – Patents ), Apple, Inc., apple.com. Accessed April 12, 2012.〕 Steve Jobs alone was a named inventor on over 300 design and utility patents.〔〔Helft, Miguel, and Carter, Shan, (Apple Patents Show Steve Jobs's Attention to Design ), ''The New York Times'', nytimes.com, August 25, 2011. Accessed 2012-4-13.〕 Between January 2008 and May 2010, Apple Inc. filed more than 350 cases with the U.S. Patent and Trademark office (USPTO) alone, most in opposition to or taking exception to others' use of the terms "apple", "pod", and "safari"; those cases include sellers of apples (the fruit), as well as many others' less unassuming use of the term "apple".〔U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), (U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board search for 'Apple Inc.'. ) Accessed July 26, 2012. (This search is not instant and takes a minute to return results.)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Apple Inc. litigation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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