BASF sues Apple in US, says iPhones infringe face authentication patents

By Jonathan Stempel

Sept 3 (Reuters) - BASF sued Apple on Thursday, accusing the iPhone maker of infringing the German chemical company's patented face authentication technology in many iPhone and iPad models.

In its complaint, BASF's trinamiX unit said it spent the last decade developing technology to address a security gap that makes conventional face recognition systems vulnerable to spoofing, where fraudsters defeat face unlock features by using photographs, 3D-printed masks and silicone replicas.

The complaint said Apple did not employ BASF's patented technology when it launched face authentication, known as Face ID, in 2017 with the iPhone X, but now uses it in a variety of iPhone 15, iPhone 16, iPhone 17, iPad Pro and other products.

"Apple knew or should have known of the high probability that updating its iPhones and iPads to incorporate Face ID using material and skin detection" infringed seven trinamiX patents, causing "substantial damages and irreparable injury," the complaint said.

BASF's lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Midland, Texas seeks unspecified damages and a halt to further infringements.

Apple did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Cupertino, California-based company sold $196.5 billion of iPhones and $21.7 billion of iPads in the nine months ending June 27.

According to the complaint, trinamiX's origins date from 2010, when BASF scientists working on organic solar cells made unexpected discoveries that led to the building of early three-dimensional camera prototypes.

BASF created trinamiX in 2014 as a stand-alone entity to develop advanced 3D and material sensing technologies, and trinamiX holds more than 800 granted or pending patents worldwide, the complaint said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, Editing by Franklin Paul)