Autotext is owned by Acacia Research, whose sole business is acquiring and licensing patents. The company was in August accused of frivolous infringement litigation by a northern California judge, who was asked to rule in a suit dubbed Micromesh Technology Corp. v. American Recreational Products.

In a victory for Apple bosses, the company's legal team has managed to win a dismissal of a shareholder lawsuit, one which claimed that executives such as CEO Steve Jobs illegally backdated stocks for personal gain. By doing so, said members of the New York City Employees' Retirement System, Apple's real stock prices were devalued.

District Court judge Jeremy Fogel granted the dismissal by noting that Apple stock had not been altered in any noticeable way, meaning there were no damages to recover. "While the subsequent disclosure that the options were backdated might require a restatement," reads Fogel's ruling, "without a discernible drop in the stock price there is no basis upon which to establish an injury to shareholders."

The suit can still be refiled however, so long as it is phrased as a derivative case arguing that the company was hurt, not the shareholders. The suit would then likely be absorbed into an existing one.