Wildwood company sues Apple for stealing Apple Watch idea

A Wildwood-based company called Masa LLC is suing Apple, alleging the tech giant infringed on a patent involving a vibrating watch.

According to the suit, filed June 5 in a U.S. District Court, inventors Andrea T. Jersa, Michael J. Jersa, III, and Avinash G. Bhardwaj filed for the patent in 2010 before being awarded the patent in August 2013.

The inventors allege Apple infringed on claims 1-14 of the patent, according to the suit, generally cover a method of receiving and transmitting electronic signals, such as text messages or phone calls, on a vibrating device that can be strapped to a user’s wrist, and alerting a user to the received electronic signal by vibrating the device.

The suit claims the inventors sent a copy of the patent to Apple and informed the company of their belief that the Apple Watch products would be infringing on their patent.

The inventors are seeking a jury trial.

Robert Evans Jr., an attorney with Senniger Powers representing Masa, declined to comment on the litigation and didn’t give a timeline in which he expects the case to be decided.