German chemical giant BASF filed a lawsuit against Apple in a US court on Thursday, accusing the tech company of infringing on its seven related patents with the Face ID facial recognition technology used in multiple iPhone and iPad models.
According to Reuters, BASF alleges that Apple’s use of the Face ID technology in various products infringes on seven patents held by its subsidiary trinamiX, demanding compensation for losses and a halt to the infringement. The amount of damages claimed has not been disclosed yet.
The lawsuit has been filed in the US Federal District Court in Midland, Texas. Apple has not responded to Reuters’ request for comments.
The complaint states that trinamiX has been developing related technologies for the past decade to address a security issue present in traditional facial recognition.
BASF argues that traditional facial recognition technologies may be deceived by photos, 3D-printed masks, or silicone replicas. The technology developed by trinamiX involves material and skin detection.
In the complaint, BASF claims that when Apple first introduced Face ID on the iPhone X in 2017, it did not utilize the materials and skin detection technology in question, and these features were later added to subsequent products.
The identified products in the lawsuit include the iPhone 15, iPhone 16, iPhone 17, as well as several iPad Pro models, with BASF alleging infringement of trinamiX’s seven patents.
BASF further asserts that Apple knew or should have known of a significant likelihood of infringement of trinamiX patents by incorporating related materials and skin detection features into the Face ID of iPhones and iPads.
The above allegations are all presented by BASF in the lawsuit and have not been ruled upon by the court yet.
According to the complaint, the origins of trinamiX trace back to 2010 when BASF scientists made some unexpected discoveries while researching organic solar cells, leading to the creation of early prototypes of 3D cameras using the findings.
In 2014, BASF established trinamiX as an independent entity to develop advanced 3D and material sensing technologies. The complaint states that trinamiX currently holds over 800 approved or pending patents globally.
Apple’s data shows that iPhone sales amounted to $196.5 billion in the nine months leading to June 27th of this year.
BASF is requesting compensation for losses from Apple and a halt to further infringement.