LVL Patent Group sues Apple and others over cell phone technology patents

Apple is the target of yet another patent lawsuit, this time filed by a company named LVL Patent Group, who claims that Apple and other cellphone companies are violating up to four generic patents they have the rights to. The patents revolve around transferring data and using various devices for entering transactions, and though most of the patents were reportedly filed back before the year 2000, there is one that was only approved this past week.

In other words, LVL is trolling for patent damages. Apple is far from the only company included in the lawsuits: HP, HTC, Motorola, Nokia, RIM, and Samsung are all listed as well, with a host of other cell phone and related companies. It's a pretty standard maneuver: try to cause just enough trouble to make it easier for these companies to simply pay off the complaint rather than bother fighting it in court. We'll see how it works its way through the courts.