Apple Sued by App Developer Over its Continuity Camera

An anonymous reader shares a report: Apple is being sued by Reincubate, which makes the Camo smartphone webcam app. It has filed a lawsuit against Apple in a U.S. federal court in New Jersey, accusing the company of anticompetitive conduct and patent infringement. The suit alleges that Apple copied Camo's technology, integrated similar features into iOS, and used control over its software ecosystem to disadvantage Reincubate's Camo product.

Reincubate's Camo and Camo Studio apps allow iOS or Android phones to function as webcams for Mac and PCs. The company launched Camo in 2020. In 2022, Apple introduced Continuity Camera, a feature that enables iPhones to serve as webcams for Macs but works only within Apple's device ecosystem. According to the lawsuit, Apple copied patented features from Camo and built them into iOS to "redirect user demand to Apple's own platform-tied offering."

Sherlocked

[Luthair]

I wanted to criticise Apple, but streaming video as a webcam doesn't really seemed like a novel concept

Re: Sherlocked

[liqu1d]

I agree. If they then removed or hid the other developer apps I would have a big problem with it but otherwise it's just competition and nothing to sue over that I'm aware of. The problem with developing for companies like these is if you get popular enough you will become a core item just have to hope you get paid for it first.

Re:

[darkain]

100% THIS

I was doing this w/ NDI tech a decade ago.

Re:

[Bert64]

You have a camera in your phone, you have a laptop, makes no sense to buy a separate camera for use with the laptop.

Re: Sherlocked

[drinkypoo]

If that's what the suit is about then it's a non starter as this functionality is older than either company's implementation. If it's about other features then who knows. It will depend on the specific claims as usual.

Re:

[A Life in Hell]

I suspect a lot of it is around camo's auto-framing, which apple calls center stage. This is actually what i use camo for, and it's fantastic at it. considering uninstalling it and getting rid of it now though, since there is no way this should be lawsuit material,

Re:

[dgatwood]

I suspect a lot of it is around camo's auto-framing, which apple calls center stage. This is actually what i use camo for, and it's fantastic at it. considering uninstalling it and getting rid of it now though, since there is no way this should be lawsuit material,

If so, then they *really* don't have a case. Sony had auto-framing available for their cameras in 2019. Camo added the feature in 2023. I'm impressed that they managed to slip that past the patent examiners when it clearly wasn't a new invention. Whoops.

Re:

[dgatwood]

Sorry, to clarify, I meant that they really don't have a case for patent infringement. The antitrust concern from a phone maker taking some of the best third-party apps and incorporating them into the base product without buying those third-party apps is a different matter.

Re:

[EvilSS]

This wasn't even novel back in 2020 when they launched. There were a bunch of apps that popped up during the pandemic to do this.

I have to say I absolutely love continuity camera

[AcidFnTonic]

It is not just a WebCam. You can drag to move the view around with a virtual PTZ. Control smooth following of movement.

I could totally see how these features would have been poached.

Re:

[Presence Eternal]

Apple's sheer inability to utilize their own hardware would be, quite hilariously, an valid point of legal debate here I think.

That being said, can you actually justify the software developers for a company as big as apple NOT coming up with the items in question as a top feature to include?

Re: I have to say I absolutely love continuity cam

[liqu1d]

That's the part that irks me. There are lots of useful ideas to add to these behemoths but the financial incentive to create them is killed by actions like this. Whilst they're within their right to do it makes you wonder how many game changers don't exist because they know they'll just get their legs cut out from under them when they gain traction.

Re:

[A Life in Hell]

yeah - i've been usign camo for years, and honestly the auto-framing stuff that's like centre stage is the killer feature. it saddens me that apple won't let me use center stage on my external webcam, because honestly it's actually a better implementation than camo, but... well, that's apple for you.

(also i use it on windows too)

Re:

[tlhIngan]

yeah - i've been usign camo for years, and honestly the auto-framing stuff that's like centre stage is the killer feature. it saddens me that apple won't let me use center stage on my external webcam, because honestly it's actually a better implementation than camo, but... well, that's apple for you.

(also i use it on windows too)

Apple won't implement every feature in the book on purpose because that shuts out third party competitors. That's why camo is multi-platform working on iPhones on Windows. But you w

Re:

[dgatwood]

It is not just a WebCam. You can drag to move the view around with a virtual PTZ. Control smooth following of movement.

I could totally see how these features would have been poached.

Definitely not new. NewTek had virtual PTZ in their Tricaster in 2018, two years before the first version of Camo, and even farther before Continuity Camera.

Its the patents

[CommunityMember]

It will come down to the precise patent claims (and what Apple is doing). Apple has a long history of finding ways to do something equivalent that manages to skirt the exact language of the patent claims so it is not infringing the actual patent. And Apple has a deep bench of IP lawyers to make those claims they did not infringe.

Apple has a history of losing in court

[FeelGood314]

But that doesn't stop them from suing or doing things that they know will they will lose later in court. The time and money it takes to beat them is victory enough for them.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

The lesson here is if you make a successful app for iOS, plan on Apple stealing it. Make your plants based on cashing out when that happens.

Prior Art

[ZeroNullVoid]

OBS-VirtualCam literally was posted Jul 21, 2017.
My logic might be wrong, but 2017 came out before 2020 right?

https://obsproject.com/forum/r... [obsproject.com]

Re:

[ZeroNullVoid]

Eh, Ignore that, I was thinknig of OBSCam which came out in 2021. But there were other less-easy ways to do it prior. I used to use a RSTP stream to OBS prior.

Re:

[ZeroNullVoid]

Actually DroidCam and DroidCam OBS came out around the same time in 2020 as a OBS plugin and had already had a standalone version prior.

https://github.com/dev47apps/d... [github.com]

Re:

[echo123]

Thumbs up for DroidCam OBS! Best webcam ever.