Apple sued over all touch-based products

FlatWorld, a Pennsylvania company, is suing Apple for patent infringement in California's Northern District Court in San Francisco, according to a report in Patently Apple. The company owns Patent RE43,318 which describes "a testing tool with a touch screen programmed to allow children to directly manipulate or move objects on the screen, and 'hide' them behind other objects."

The suit lists Apple's entire lineup of touch-related devices including the iPod, iPad, iPhone, and sixth generation iPod nano as infringing products. It also lists the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, the Magic Mouse in combination with any Mac computer running OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.1 and the Magic Trackpad in combination with any Mac computer running OS X Snow Leopard v.10.6.4 or later.