Today in Apple Litigation…

You can't make 500 million friends without making a few enemies, right? While it's unclear as to how many friends Apple AAPL has acquired, we do know that it has made at least one enemy in the video conferencing industry: Videophone's patent owner. Apple Insider reports that Visual Interactive Phone Concepts Inc., the company that owns the Videophone patent, has filed a lawsuit against Apple, AT&T T and U.S. Cellular USM in U.S. District Court in Michigan. The complaints are reportedly based on two U.S. patents, both of which involve a "Videophone interactive mailbox facility system and method of processing information." According to Apple Insider, the suit states that Apple offers "an application service for users to view, download and use applications on their videophones" through a central data center. The iTunes Store and iBookstore are specifically cited in the complaint. At the same time, Apple is suing a teenage boy who runs an online business that sells white iPhone 4 conversion kits. While his website has been offline since Apple issued a cease-and-desist last December, the complaint accuses Fei Lik "Phillip" Lam and his parents, Yuk Lam and Dunwah Lam, of "infringing and diluting Apple's famous trademarks" by selling conversion kits. While a white iPhone 4 kit might not sound like much of an infringement, it turns out that the kits include parts from manufacturers who produce Apple products overseas. Call me crazy, but shouldn't Apple go after the manufacturers as well? In any case, Apple Insider has picked up on a MacRumors report that states that Apple has filed for a voluntary dismissal of the complaint, leading to speculation that the company has finally reached a settlement with the Lam family. Unfortunately for Lam, Apple's dismissal gives the company the right to re-file the claim at a later time.