Apple Patents: Apple Buys Patents from Maya-Systems Inc.

Apple Patents: It was just a couple days ago when we brought you a story about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and 48 patents the company had recently been awarded. In addition to filing for patents on its own, the Cupertino-based company is known to purchase from other companies to get what they want.

This time around, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has purchased 18 patents from Maya-Systems Inc.

Here is a brief excerpt from the press release, as published by AppleInsider:

“In the third quarter of 2012, a transaction took place between Maya-Systems Inc. and Apple Inc., through which Apple acquired a portion of Maya-Systems’ patents related to innovative axis-based user interface technology. The acquisition included 18 patent properties of Maya-Systems.”

While the transaction was just announced yesterday, as the press release states, the actual deal took place during the third quarter of 2012.

At this point, you may be a bit confused as to what this technology is all about. Why would Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) be interested in purchasing these patents?

Here is more information from the same AppleInsider piece:

“Promotional material from Maya-Systems showcases a file sorting system that aims to save time and ease access for personal and corporate users. Documents can be synced through the cloud and sorted based on relevant time, categories and more.”

“In the company’s examples, files can be reorganized in a manner relevant to each client and project. And for personal users, e-mails, documents, photos and other files can be stored in one place, and quickly organized based on subject matter, such as a particular project or client.”

As you can see, there are many ways that Apple could potentially work with this type of technology. Their exact plans for the patents are not known at this time, but it is safe to say that they have something up their sleeve.

Here is what Mathieu Audet, founder of Maya-Systems, had to say: