Apple sued over patents for locking out FaceTime while driving

Apple has a patent on technology that would lock down a phone while a user is driving. The lawsuit claims that failure to implement the tech makes Apple culpable in the victim’s death.

By Reese Counts
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 30: A driver uses a phone while behind the wheel of a car on April 30, 2016 in New York City. As accidents involving drivers using phones or other personal devices mount across the country, New York lawmakers have proposed a new test called the Textalyzer to help curb mobile phone usage behind the wheel. Similar to a Breathalyzer test, the Textalyzer would allow police to request phones from drivers involved in accidents and then determine if the phone had been used while the drivers operated their vehicles. The controversial bill is currently in the early committee stage. According to statistics, In 2014 431,000 people were injured and 3,179 were killed in car accidents involving distracted drivers. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 30: A driver uses a phone while behind the wheel of a car on April 30, 2016 in New York City. As accidents involving drivers using phones or other personal devices mount across the country, New York lawmakers have proposed a new test called the Textalyzer to help curb mobile phone usage behind the wheel. Similar to a Breathalyzer test, the Textalyzer would allow police to request phones from drivers involved in accidents and then determine if the phone had been used while the drivers operated their vehicles. The controversial bill is currently in the early committee stage. According to statistics, In 2014 431,000 people were injured and 3,179 were killed in car accidents involving distracted drivers. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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A lawsuit filed in California holds Apple accountable for the death of a five-year-old girl
in an accident that occurred on Christmas Eve of 2014, just north of Dallas, Texas. The lawsuit alleges that Apple had patented but unimplemented technology that could lock out FaceTime to prevent distracted driving.


That patent, filed in 2008 and approved in 2014, would prevent users from activating or using FaceTime while driving, utilizing a motion and scenery analyzer to lock out certain features under certain conditions. This is similar to the limitations that were placed on Pokémon that restricts the game’s use while above a certain speed.


The driver involved in the accident admitted to police that he was using Apple’s FaceTime app on his iPhone when he collided with the other car. In fact,
according to Courthouse News, FaceTime was still running when the police arrived.


The Modisettes, the family of the young girl that was killed, say that Apple either failed to shut off the app or failed to give enough of a warning about how dangerous it is to use FaceTime while driving. The lawsuit claims Apple should be held accountable because it didn’t implement the patented lock-out feature.


Whether the claim has merit will be decided in court, but the logic behind the complaint is troubling. Patent protection is an important incentive for companies to innovate, and precedent that requires safety-related patents to be utilized (instead of giving the company the discretion to make that decision) could stifle creativity. It’s unclear at this point why Apple decided not to utilize this technology, but it could certainly have valid reasons.


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