Apple, Amazon and others are named in Walker Digital patent suit

Walker Digital is using its patent library as a giant war hammer against more than 100 companies, including Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook and Apple. Walker Digital is a US-based research and development firm for technology patents and holds over 400 issued and pending patents both in the US and internationally.

The company generates an estimated US$200 million in licensing revenue from these patents. Besides its robust patent portfolio, Jay Walker, founder of Walker Digital, also launched Priceline, and the two companies were tied closely together at launch.

Reports from AppleInsider and Reuters don't identify the specific technology involved in this lawsuit, but Walker Digital claims Apple et al. are infringing on patents the company created in the 1990s. The Stamford, Connecticut company reportedly reached out to the companies named in this suit, but its request for licensing fell on deaf ears. Walker Digital then filed its patent infringement lawsuit in US District Court in Delaware on Tuesday.