Amazon’s Fire tablet is hit with a patent lawsuit

BOOKSELLER AMAZON has had a patent lawsuit filed against its Fire tablet just weeks before it was set to go on sale.

The online retailer is the target of a lawsuit from Smartphone Technologies, a company that has already sicced its lawyers on Apple, RIM and others, according to the Paidcontent web site, and is accused on infringing four of its patents.

According to the report the firm, which is owned by patent collection business Acacia Research group, has a haul of patents that it licenses to companies. Apparently Amazon did not accept its offer and infringed patents that involve things like touching a screen or tapping an icon.

Another patent covers a "System And Method For Displaying And Manipulating Multiple Calendars On A Personal Digital Assistant," says the report, and another covers how software provides a response to someone writing on a screen. Acacia has already licensed the calendar patent to Palm, according to the report.

Acacia has accused Amazon of infringing five of its patents, including one other that relates to the Kindle 3G plus Wifi book reader. µ