aA big name in the plumbing industry. Patrick Lutz They were used to withstanding floods. But the circumstances led to a completely different kind of soaking, sitting in the rain in a local park and pondering the demise of the business in the dot-com crash. “I lost everything. I had a young child. I was embarrassed and angry that I had let my family down. I couldn't look them in the face,” he said. look back.

His lowest point came just before the patent battle with Apple erupted that would define his life. Nearly two decades later, he's still at odds with his company and the U.S. courts.

He presents an interesting profile. The reputable and established British inventor, who first found wealth and success in the 1980s, now dominates his online reputation, leaving onlookers wondering whether Raz or Apple is in the right. After years of David vs. Goliath dogfights, he was clearly feeling hurt and angry. It's on the right.

Racz is the creator of Triflow, the world's first three-way mixer faucet. This system added additional channels and valves to a typical sink mixer to deliver filtered water along with hot and cold water. A “multi-million pound” sale in 1998 sealed his profits after expanding the business to sell in 45 countries.

But he says the second chapter turned rocky when his dot-com-era venture, a file-sharing and payments technology company, was taken over by Apple's iTunes store. He claims that a US company stole his system.

“I went through a period of severe depression,” Raz said, opening up for the first time about the mental strain. “I'm embarrassed to say that I hit the bottle. I got completely lost in time and didn't remember much.”

It was a patent for the technology, first filed in 1999 and granted almost a decade later, that gave him a “new lease on life” and is still in the process of seeking $18 billion in damages. A large-scale legal battle has begun.

Apple is no stranger to patent disputes like this. U.S. sales of Apple's Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches were suspended before Christmas due to a conflict with medical technology company Masimo. Mr. Lutz has won several rounds of court action against the company, but there is no guarantee that either side will ultimately prevail. The only certainty is that the road ahead will be long, winding and expensive.

Racz grew up on a strawberry farm in Jersey and spent his early career as a salesman. When he sold his tap business, Avillion, he pursued the digital download market in the same way that Napster transformed the music industry with illegal file sharing.

Racz quickly filed a patent for Smartflash, an anti-piracy alternative, and an accompanying system for enabling payments and secure downloads. He has finalized deals with retailers and manufacturers, including French SIM card company Gemplus. Pop star Britney Spears has been appointed as a brand ambassador.

But in the aftermath of 9/11 and the dot-com crash, Spears and GemPlus withdrew, and Luck's said in court that GemPlus, also an Apple partner, subsequently claimed the product as its own. .

The late Apple president Steve Jobs is “soaking in praise” for a series of products, starting with iTunes in 2003, that blended hardware and software in a way Raz claims he first invented. His blood boiled when he saw it. After receiving patent approval in 2008, he achieved an unlikely victory. He sued Apple in Texas in 2015 and won $533 million in damages. According to Lutz, this was one of the largest jury awards for a private inventor.

However, the court's decision was later reversed. He was first hurt by a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeals Board ruling that his patent was invalid, and then lost when Apple appealed in commercial court. He later lost his case on appeal, but he vowed to keep fighting. He has faced considerable backlash among Apple supporters online in recent years, including receiving death threats via email from unknown individuals.

“When you're told your kids should be burned at the stake and beheaded for what they do, those things start to get hard. My kids were being bullied. The kids said, “Your dad says he invented this, but he didn't steal it. Apple invented it.'' Your dad is a liar.'' The Rats were having coffee in London. I say this while drinking. He's tall and stocky, with close-cropped dark hair, and he's still visibly furious as he tells his story.

Lutz's latest battle is with the U.S. Patent Office, which he is suing for refusing to release uncensored emails and documents related to his intellectual property. He seeks to prove that the group of judges was intentionally populated with former lawyers and close Apple supporters. Lutz argues that the company has used its “wealth and power” to influence the U.S. patent system.

Asked for comment, Apple pointed to a previous statement issued in 2015, saying: “SmartFlash makes no products, has no employees, does not create jobs, has no presence in the United States, and uses our patent system to seek royalties for technology invented by Apple. They are abusing it.”

“We refused to reimburse the company for the ideas our employees spent years innovating. Unfortunately, we are left with no other option but to take this fight to court.”

Gem Plus did not respond to a request for comment.

Away from legal pursuits, he is a supporter of Regent Sounds, a music store on Denmark Street in central London. The music store, once used as a studio by the Rolling Stones, has been locked in its own battle with its landlord behind a major development by media venture Outernet. .

His main mission remains to tell his story.he wrote smart flashHe has written an autobiography titled “, and there is interest from a publisher. His friend Simon Morris, Amazon's former global chief creative officer and the man behind Amazon Prime Video, struck a deal to sell the rights to a documentary about Ratt's life and persuaded the studio to pursue the project. I'm selling it.

Meanwhile, Latz continues to focus on his legal work and is supported by private investors who will share in his winnings. “They say that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That made me even more determined.”