Japanese court fines Apple ¥330 million in click wheel patent case

Apple is ordered to pay ¥330 million ($3.3 million) to Japanese inventor Norihiko Saito after a court ruling.

The case refers to the click wheel controller used on iPod Classics since 2004. The court heard that Mr Saito's company held a patent for the technology dating back to 1998.

The dispute first started in 2007 when Mr Saito tried to block the import of the iPod because of alleged patent infringement.

Apple then countered with a suit to deny the patent infringement and in turn Mr Saito issued a suit for damages to the tune of ¥100 million ($1 million). A series of failed rounds of negotiations lead to Mr Saito increasing his claim for damages to ¥10 billion ($101 million), but this was too high a figure for Presiding Judge Teruhisa Takano.

It is not yet clear whether Apple will appeal against the ruling. We've contacted the company for its reaction to the ruling and we're waiting to hear back.