From: ———-@——————
Date: On Tuesday, May 2nd, 2023 at 22:36
Subject: IMPORTANT Private, Confidential & time sensitive communication for the attention of Tim Cook.
To: tcook@apple.com tcook@apple.com

Dear Mr Cook

You are facing a fundamental challenge to the reputation and very future of the Apple brand. Please accordingly do not ignore the contents of this email.
My name is Patrick Racz. I am the CEO of Smartflash Technologies Jersey Limited, the parent company of Smartflash Technologies (BVI) Limited and Smartflash LLC (USA) and the first named inventor of the foundational technology referred to as Smartflash. References in this letter to “Smartflash” include all 3 entities and its IP as appropriate, and unless stated otherwise.

I write to make you aware of relevant matters and in the hope that a confidential reasonable agreement between us may be reached, which will avoid the need for further bitter confrontation and be in our mutual best interests. Please note the following, all of which is fully evidenced and supported.

Smartflash has been the victim of some deeply troubling behaviour ever since Steve Jobs first learned about our ideas and technology over two decades ago, through shared contacts, including former senior executives at NEXT, Gemplus and AOL Time Warner. Among these individuals are senior employees who still work at or with Apple to this day.

I am unsure of the extent of your own personal knowledge concerning these matters, or of any direct involvement on your part, but I’m sure that you will appreciate why I watched the sworn testimony you gave to Congress on July 29th, 2020, with considerable interest, particularly when you stated under oath, “We respect innovation, it’s what our company is built on. We, we would never steal somebody’s IP” and “we do not retaliate or bully people. It’s strongly against our company culture.”

I also listened very carefully to the sworn testimony that you gave in the Epic v Apple trial, and I paid particular attention to your exchange with Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, and your repeated references to Apple’s “IP” in relation to In-App purchasing – including your statement “We’ve made a choice. There are clearly other ways to monetize, but we chose this one, because we think this one overall is the best way”.

I was particularly concerned by your statements because we proved incontrovertibly at trial, that Smartflash invented and still owns the key technology and patents for and including in-App Purchasing, and that Apple were unable to provide any evidence of their own to the contrary or to put forward any non-infringing alternatives. Apple’s own Senior Director of Engineering and lead witness at our trial, Payam Mirrashidi, even admitted on the stand when giving evidence that “The Truth Is the Code”.

The truth[1] and Apple’s False Media Campaign are in diametric contradiction with each other and with the above-mentioned evidence that you gave to Congress and at trial.

I’m hopeful that by the time you have finished reading this letter and after making some internal enquiries, you will fully appreciate why I feel so very aggrieved, because for the past 22 years I have been subjected not only to the theft of my ideas & technology, but to multiple extreme acts of vindictiveness, bullying, intimidation and more – all at the hands of Apple.

These actions, directly contravene your statements to Congress and the American people, and they include the misleading statements and outright lies – falsely branding me as a “Patent Troll” – that Apple peddled to the world media immediately after losing so badly at trial to Smartflash.

The ensuing long-term campaign, directly fuelled by cronies of Apple and by Apple itself, even led to unspeakable death threats being made against me and my family.

When making your enquiries, I hope you will also be able to spare some time to visit my website at www.patrickracz.com where you will be able to watch a video on Smartflash, to learn how it works (I can guarantee it will look very familiar) and to read some factual articles, with honest reporting, that detail some (but most certainly not all) of the appalling behaviour that I have been subjected to.

One article in particular, that you can read on the website, is entitled “Smartflash v Apple: A poster child of the current ills wrecking the U.S, patent system”. It was this article that inspired me to gain a deeper understanding of precisely what had led to America plummeting from 1st place on the world IP rankings to 14th below Hungary, and that enabled Apple to adversely influence the courts and to help have my patents unlawfully invalidated.

Smartflash is the backbone to the App Store and iTunes and as your above statements in the Epic v Apple trial demonstrate, Apple knows it. Without our technology, Apple would not be the company it is today. In 2015, we proved in court that Apple wilfully infringed our patents, and we won a landmark jury award for past infringement.

What followed our victory is like something out of a forthcoming movie. Now, after several years of investigations and millions of dollars in additional investment, we have the full picture and supporting evidence of how the world’s biggest company managed to steal our technology and how it used its massive power and influence to help unlawfully invalidate our patents.

The resulting investigations originally commissioned in 2017, ramped up in intensity from 2018 – 2020, when Apple were involved in an elaborately orchestrated Machiavellian plot, involving 7 law firms in 3 separate jurisdictions, to try and force Smartflash into insolvency, in a failed attempt to acquire our newly issued US & Japanese Patents.

Further investigations have led to Smartflash suing the United States Patent Office (USPTO), to obtain additional evidence relating to the very disturbing practices of panel stacking, major conflicts of interest, multiple additional due process violations at the Patent Trial Appeal Board (PTAB) and for permitting scandalous behind the scenes influence and involvement of third parties.

We are also seeking further information from the USPTO, of events leading to the abrupt and unprecedented cancellation of additional new patents, immediately following the issuance of “Notifications of Allowance” by a Primary Examiner, and for which no S.O.P exists.

Notwithstanding the above, perhaps the most disturbing aspect of our investigations is the 15-year trail of irrefutable evidence that concisely maps out the Regulatory Capture of the entire US patent system, also referred to euphemistically in Big Tech circles as Patent Reform.

Our dossier clearly shows that the America Invents Act (AIA) was effectively a Trojan Horse, engineered by Big Tech (including Apple), their lawyers & co-conspirators, to pull the wool over the eyes of Congress and the American people, under the joint pretexts of being essential to counter the (almost entirely made up) menace of Patent Trolls and an urgent need for America to adopt a “First to File” system.

We can also demonstrate that a key objective and primary motivation behind the capture of the patent system, was to facilitate the formation of a new, unconstitutional adjudicatory body known as The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The PTAB also commonly referred to in IP circles as “The Death Squad for Patents” was conceived, spawned by, and is effectively now owned, operated, and managed by Big Tech.

Another intended consequence of the AIA and the PTAB was Regulatory Overreach, as evidenced by what has happened to Smartflash and countless other victims and for which we have also assembled a massive weight and pattern of evidence.

Our extensive files outline in some considerable detail the involvement of key individuals within the eponymously named Chiefs of Intellectual Property or “ChIPs” Network, covering a period from 2005-2019, and including of course one of its co-founders Noreen Kraal, who was until very recently Apple’s chief litigation counsel, with direct control over the Smartflash litigation.

We believe it is no mere coincidence that all parties (including the heads of IP litigation inside Apple and their co-defendants, In-House counsels, lawyers, law firms and astoundingly also the presiding APJ’s) connected to the 48 separate petitions that were filed at the PTAB[2] by Apple and its co-defendants, were connected to the ChIPs[3] network.

Our own research into Big Tech and Apple’s involvement in what is euphemistically termed as “Patent Reform” also extended into the 2014 Settlement between Apple & Google over the so-called Smartphone Patent Wars.

This historic settlement reportedly included an agreement to co-operate on “Patent Reform” and our own investigations focused on the timing of Michelle Lee’s appointment as Director of the USPTO, her former role as head of IP litigation at Google, her direct authority to select panels at the PTAB, the involvement of Cyndi Wheeler – who ran Apple’s PTAB practice at the time, the secretive behind closed doors meeting during Michelle Lee’s first day in office at the USPTO, and her relationship with Noreen Kraal dating back to at least 2005 – when they co-founded ChIPs together.

These and other investigations are still ongoing and despite Smartflash already spending millions of dollars in uncovering the truth, will continue unabated until our matter is fully resolved.

The massive weight of evidence that Smartflash has already assembled, includes thousands of files of undisclosed, documents, white papers, videos & photographs, securely stored on duplicate encrypted drives, but the evidence actually disclosed by Smartflash to date, represents only the very tip of the iceberg.

With the above in mind, this letter is being written before Smartflash and I take any further remedial steps, to offer Apple the opportunity of negotiating a confidential settlement with Smartflash, on terms which are mutually satisfactory, and which will suit the future requirements of both sides.

A successful negotiation will remedy the miscarriage of justice, which also has the potential of enhancing Apple’s and your own worldwide reputation, depending of course on the extent to which Apple would wish to publicise it.

In my opinion, the risk that no settlement poses cannot be overstated. Over the past few years, we have built our own powerful network of lawyers, politicians, media advisers, entrepreneurs, investors, and journalists in several countries, all of whom can corroborate my case and who will be able to point to other instances of IP theft with the same patterns of activities.

Our newly extending network of contacts including whistle-blowers, is growing daily and has been gathering pace following publication of my recent interview with the Sunday Times and the announcement of our Civil RICO investigation.

In order to provide you with sufficient assurances that my offer is genuine, I am hereby asking my advisors, lawyers and our media comms team to stand down for a period of 7-10 days – during which time no further additional disclosures will be made.

In the event that I have heard nothing back from you within 7 days, I will take it that you have no interest in this proposal to draw matters to a speedy, confidential and satisfactory conclusion.

Please note that pending and subject to final terms of settlement being agreed, the rights of Smartflash to take such action as it deems appropriate to protect its respective interests are reserved in every respect.

Yours sincerely
Patrick Racz