Altpass LLC suing Apple with Patent Lawsuit for iPhone Security Features

Altpass LLC is suing Apple with a patent lawsuit for some security features, including passcodes, password creation, Face ID, and more. As reported by Apple Insider, a non-practicing organization has registered a case against Apple, claiming iPhone security features like user passcodes as well as other unlock methods infringe on owned patents.

The case is registered in the patent holder-friendly U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Altpass LLC’s lawsuit claims that Apple’s iPhone infringes on two patents that detail ways of creating digital signatures that can be used for user authentication. In this password and password creation, face ID technology (depends on the complaint) may be involved.

Altpass is taking advantage of the U.S. Patent Nos. 7,725,725 and 8,429,415 (which are the same patent that the firm used to file a suit against Google and Panasonic previously) lodged in 2006 and 2010 respectively. Gary Odom is behind the invention of both patents. The properties later moved from one to another patent holding and finally ended up in 2020 at Altpass.

There is a deep procedure for creating a “signature” (passcode, face ID, alphanumeric code) and then this signature can be used to unlock a device later. Both the patents hold the details of generating a signature by recording a signal from the keyboard, or another input mechanism, then observing variations in input as done by the user and storing it. Later this signature will tally with user input for authentication.

Based on the proof of infringement, Altpass directs the court to a section of Apple’s iPhone user guide for iOS 14 covering the change in a passcode.

There is no sufficient information about Altpass and the only mentioned information is that it operates an office in Austin, Texas.