A JERSEY-born inventor embroiled in a two-decade-long legal battle with Apple says that the man behind Amazon Prime has signed up to sell the rights to a documentary about his life – and is currently pitching the project to studios.
Patrick Racz claims that the tech giant owes him $18bn for the technology behind the App Store and iTunes – which he says he invented in the late 1990s.
In 2015, Mr Racz and his company Smartflash LLC won $533 million in compensation for patent infringement by Apple over a number of patents which covered the technology that powers iTunes, and the way that customers can buy and download music.
However, his multi-million damages victory was then thrown out two years later after the US Patent and Trademark Office officially dubbed his patents “invalid”, and the Court of Appeals dismissed the verdict altogether in March 2017.
In 2018, the US Supreme Court said that they would not be prepared to listen to a further challenge by Smartflash, and the Court of Appeals upheld the Patent Office’s conclusions. This suggested that Mr Racz’s hard-fought battle against Apple had finally come to an end.
However, Mr Racz resumed legal proceedings armed with evidence gleaned from freedom-of-information requests and with $50m of private-investor backing.
In April, he announced the launch of a civil investigation into the global giant, under the US federal “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act” law.
As part of that, Mr Racz is suing the United States Patent and Trademark Office over its refusal to release documents regarding his racketeering case against Apple.
He is attempting to prove that panels of judges were intentionally stacked with ex-lawyers and close supporters of Apple.
The battle has taken its toll, with Mr Racz recently telling US publication Fortune of being left in a “deep depression”.
However, he has not let up in his efforts.
Mr Racz, who recently told The Guardian that he believes the tech giant has used its “wealth and power” to influence the US patent system, says that one of his main missions remains telling his story.
And that story may soon hit shelves – or even screens.
Mr Racz has written his autobiography – titled “Smartflash” – which he said has interest from publishers.
He also told The Guardian that his friend Simon Morris – the ex-global chief creative officer at Amazon and the man behind Amazon Prime Video – has signed up to sell the rights to a documentary about Mr Racz’s life and is currently pitching the project to studios.
