In today's episode Canon WiFi lawsuit, Joel Meyerowitz is honored and more.
Show Notes
Welcome back to the show everyone Liam here and this is Episode 481 of the Liam Photography Podcast for the week of Nov 20th, 2025. In today’s episode Canon Wifi Lawsuit, new Apple TV Logo made by creatives Prism lens FX’s and more.
Canon Inc. and its U.S. subsidiary, Canon USA, are facing a new patent infringement lawsuit filed by Irish company Malikie Innovations Ltd. The suit alleges that Canon’s cameras, printers, and companion mobile app use Wi-Fi technology covered by six patents held by Malikie that pertain to how devices wirelessly connect to networks or apps for tasks such as photo sharing and printing.
The lawsuit, filed on November 12, 2025, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas (case number 1:25-cv-01826), also names Malikie’s investment partner, Key Patent Innovations Ltd., as a co-plaintiff. Together, the companies are seeking remedies for Canon’s alleged unlicensed use of the patented technology. Bloomberg Law, which reported on the lawsuit, has published the full complaint online.
According to court documents, Malikie first approached Canon in March 2024, seeking a licensing agreement for the patents. Malikie reportedly sent letters, emails, and requested meetings with Canon representatives to negotiate a resolution. After six months without agreement, Malikie filed their infringement claims.
As Canon Rumors notes, the patents in question, U.S. Patent Nos. 7,747,934; 9,218,434; 10,484,870; 10,003,730; 9,143,323, and one additional patent, cover functionalities such as sending images from cameras to smartphones or connecting Wi-Fi-enabled printers to networks. Malikie asserts that Canon’s use of these technologies in popular consumer and professional devices constitutes infringement.
Malikie Innovations is no stranger to patent litigation. Since acquiring a substantial portion of BlackBerry’s wireless technology portfolio in 2023, around 32,000 patents in total, the company, often in partnership with Key Patent Innovations Ltd., has actively pursued licensing agreements and lawsuits against major tech firms, targeting wireless communications, mobile devices, and networked systems.
Past defendants include Nintendo, which was sued over Nintendo Switch console wireless features; Acer, regarding touch-based interfaces and data connectivity technologies; and Sophos, for mobile device security and cryptographic certificate management. The company has also targeted Toast Inc., a point-of-sale provider, and Vantiva USA, a networking hardware vendor, alleging infringement on patents related to wireless communication and user interface innovations.
These cases illustrate Malikie’s systematic approach to monetizing the BlackBerry patent portfolio. The company typically begins by offering licensing agreements, Canon, for example, was approached in March 2024, as the lawsuit explains. If licensing agreements aren’t reached, Malikie historically escalates to litigation, as is the case here. The lawsuits often cover both device hardware and software functionality, particularly technologies related to wireless connectivity and secure communications.
In the Canon suit, Malikie claims that Wi-Fi implementations in cameras, printers, and associated apps infringe six of its patents. The company’s prior history of enforcement actions could signal a deliberate and targeted strategy, suggesting the Canon case is part of a broader effort to assert rights over wireless and mobile technology patents.
While Malikie’s history demonstrates persistence, the ultimate impact on Canon remains uncertain. Previous defendants have faced varying outcomes, including settlements, licensing agreements, or redesigns to avoid infringement. As with earlier cases, the Canon lawsuit could influence product design, licensing fees, and future wireless features if Malikie succeeds in court or reaches a settlement.
For now, Canon users are unlikely to notice any changes while litigation is ongoing. Cameras, printers, and the mobile app remain fully functional. It is difficult to predict how cases like these will play out, but Malikie is seeking damages.
Apple TV viewers may have begun noticing a new mnemonic playing before a show streams. While it’s easy to assume it is a computer-generated animation, it was in fact handmade by human creatives.
In the age of generative AI, where Coca-Cola is ruining Christmas, Apple has taken a refreshing approach to its new graphics by building a giant glass version of its TV logo in a studio and bringing it to life with clever lighting, macro lenses, and color gels.
The new mnemonic was made to mark Apple TV’s rebranding from Apple TV+, which was confirmed in October. Apple partnered with bespoke creative agency MAL, which was tasked with “reimagining its brand from the ground up.”
“Built from real glass and captured entirely in camera, the new identity explores reflection, color, and light to express the cinematic spirit at the heart of Apple TV,” MAL writes on Instagram. “Every shimmer was made for real, no CG shortcuts, a nod to Apple’s belief that craft should be felt, not faked.”
MAL shared a behind-the-scenes video (above) showing the intricacies of the shoot, which, according to AdAge, was a “weeks-long” production in a London creative studio. It involved designing the logo with the help of Apple’s creative team and then sculpting it from solid glass.
There were ultimately two mnemonics created: a five-second show opener and a longer cinematic version that will play before feature films. The music for each clip was created by singer-songwriter Finneas O’Connell.
Apple’s logos have been black and white for a long time; therefore reintroducing color was a historic choice. The creative agency sought inspiration from Apple’s iconic 1977 logo, which has six bold colors striped across the bitten-into apple.
The handmade, artisan mnemonic stands in stark contrast to Coca-Cola’s botched Christmas ad, which was AI-generated and criticized for glaring errors — such as the vans not being the same size. Viewers called it “soulless” and “embarrassing.”
“Its labor is the content, the process is the story, and audiences can feel the difference,” adds TikToker Jordan Schwarzenberger. “Coca-Cola took a shortcut and received backlash. Apple took the long road and received admiration.”
Prism Lens FX, known for its professional cinema filters, has announced the Shield Series of cinema filters, a redesigned approach to the traditional 4×5 that promises improved performance and usability in fast-paced video workflows.
The Shield Series promises a “new standard in 4×5.65 filter design.” The company notes that there has been nearly no innovation in the 4×5 filter format for the past century, but that changes “now.”
Built upon Prism Lens FX’s professional-grade optical quality, the new filters feature a machined aluminum frame and design tweaks that address three common pain points that cinematographers face daily when working with filters: filter handling, damage prevention, and swift filter identification.
Traditional 4×5 (4×5.65, technically) glass filters, while great for image quality, are bare glass. This means that they must be handled carefully and regularly cleaned to remove unavoidable fingerprints. They are also susceptible to cracking and damage.
The new Shield Series filters feature a glass filter inside a rigid aluminum frame with corner areas for gripping and filter labels on the top and bottom of the frame. The edge of the filter is also laser-etched with identifying information, so cinematographers can see which filter it is when looking straight down at it inside a filter holder.
“This 360-degree marking system means filters can be identified from any angle, whether stacked in a case, laid on a cart, or held at arm’s length, eliminating the guesswork and lost time that comes with unmarked or minimally labeled filters,” Prism Lens FX says.
Prism Lens FX says cinematographers don’t need to worry about the aluminum frame adding excess bulk or weight to the kit, as its low profile ensures it works with “most standard matte boxes and filter trays.”
“For cinematographers tired of babying their filters or wasting time searching for the right piece of glass, the Shield Series offers a straightforward proposition: better protection, easier handling, and faster identification,” promises Prism Lens FX.
Prism Lens FX remains committed to meeting the workflow needs of professional cinematographers. The company worked alongside CRDBAG in August to launch a first-of-its-kind modular filter bag for filmmakers.
“The Shield Series reflects input from cinematographers who understand the difference between gear that looks good in theory and gear that performs under pressure,” Prism Lens FX says.
The Prism Lens FX Shield Series 4×5.65 filters are available to order now, priced at $245 each. Filters are available in a range of styles, including various neutral density (ND) filters and special effects.
Amid Arri’s ongoing financial challenges and the difficult professional cinema landscape, the German company announced this week that it will cut jobs and close two locations primarily focused on producing lighting equipment.
As Bloomberg reports, Arri Group’s cuts are the result of a broader decline in the cinema industry and movie production, the same reason why Arri began considering a sale earlier this year.
When reports surfaced in August that Arri was contemplating a sale, news also broke that Arri was working with the consultancy AlixPartners to “streamline its business.” It’s easy to connect the dots between these efforts and Arri’s new decision to close lighting factory, repair, and distribution operations in Stephanskirchen and Brannenburg in Germany.
Bloomberg reports that these lighting centers will close by the end of the year, which will result in 150 people losing their current jobs. However, Arri says that around one-third of these people will be offered positions at Arri’s Munich headquarters.
“Like many companies in the film industry, Arri is undergoing a significant transformation to address lasting shifts in market demand while reinforcing its core strengths,” Arri spokesperson Kevin Schwutke told Bloomberg over email.
Arri was founded back in 1917 and has long been a mainstay in the cinema industry. The company’s lights, which have been undercut in recent years by cheaper alternatives, primarily from Chinese companies, were, for a while, a ubiquitous sight on professional film sets.
There is also the broader trend across the imaging landscape, not just cinematic lighting products, that affordable prosumer-oriented products are replacing costly professional ones.
As cinematographer Zakaree Sandberg writes on Reddit, “The ‘high end’ is just no longer viable. There are cheaper versions of everything that get you 95% of the way there.”
Although Arri appears to be bowing out of the lighting industry, the company’s high-end cinema cameras remain fully in production, including the new Arri Alexa 35 Xtreme camera announced in July for $55,000. Arri also recently announced Film Lab, a new post-production tool designed to give digital videos a more analog look and feel.
TTArtisan has released its AF 23mm f/1.8 APS-C prime for Sony E and Nikon Z, as promised, expanding the lens beyond the Fujifilm X version that debuted earlier this year. Priced at just $127, the lens continues TTArtisan’s push toward affordable autofocus primes across multiple systems.
When the lens was first announced, TTArtisan said additional mounts would follow, and as reported by Asobinet, those versions have now arrived. The Sony E and Nikon Z models feature slightly different exterior designs but maintain the same core specifications. Both lenses are compact, fast APS-C primes that deliver a 35mm full-frame equivalent field of view.
TTArtisan positions the AF 23mm f/1.8 APS-C prime as a versatile everyday option suited for street photography, travel, portraits, and general-purpose shooting. The company says the lens uses an STM stepping motor for autofocus, promising quick, accurate, and quiet performance for both stills and video. A minimum focusing distance of 11.8 inches (300 millimeters) allows for close-up work, while the fast f/1.8 aperture is intended to support low-light shooting and shallow-depth-of-field rendering.
Construction remains consistent between the Sony E and Nikon Z versions. Both use an aviation-grade aluminum body weighing 7.8 ounces (221 grams), keeping the lens lightweight without sacrificing durability. TTArtisan notes that the optical formula consists of 11 elements in nine groups, including one high-index element and two extra-low-dispersion elements designed to manage aberrations and maintain sharpness. A nine-blade diaphragm aims to provide smoother bokeh, and a 52mm filter thread supports standard creative filters.
The company also includes a rear lens cap with a built-in USB-C port, allowing users to install firmware updates without additional accessories, a design TTArtisan has been incorporating into more of its recent autofocus lenses.
Alongside the new AF 23mm releases, TTArtisan has introduced a limited-edition “Polar White” version of the AF 27mm f/2.8, available for Fujifilm X and Sony E cameras, noting that the Nikon Z version of the 27mm is not offered in this color variant. TTArtisan describes the Polar White edition as a cosmetic refresh aimed at photographers who want a more stylized, minimalist look for compact APS-C setups.
The TTArtisan AF 23mm f/1.8 is available now for Sony E, Nikon Z, and Fujifilm X mounts for $127. The Polar White limited-edition 27mm f/2.8 is also available now for Fujifilm X and Sony E.
The “MP” in Leica MP stands for “Mechanical Perfection.” That’s a big claim that I decided to put to the test with a roll of Leica’s brand new Monopan 50 and a trip to the English Cotswolds.
Firstly, let’s talk about how gorgeous this Leica MP is: coupled with the Leica Summilux-M 50mm f/1.4 ASPH, I couldn’t stop looking at it. Slinging it over my shoulder, I proudly wore it like a fashion accessory, hoping that someone might recognize it and think, “Hey, that’s a Leica MP, what a cool guy.”
But carrying around an analog camera with no film inside of it is plumbing new lows, so after loading in the roll of Leica Monopan, it was time to start dipping into my 36 exposures. Now, I have used a Leica M11 before, so the rangefinder focusing aspect wasn’t totally alien to me. Nevertheless, I was wary because I know how difficult it can be to nail focus on a 50mm lens attached to an analog camera — having missed plenty of shots on my Canon AE-1. But spoiler alert: I nailed the focus on every single shot. Rangefinder: 1 – Manual Focus: 0.
Now, this camera works without batteries, which is cool. Obviously I would have been up the creek without a paddle had the battery died, since it would have left me guessing the exposure, but it’s nice to know that I could have carried on taking photos even if it did die.
Speaking of the light meter system inside the camera: my God, it is so simple and intuitive. After initially being intimidated by the MP, it was a pleasure to use it as everything started feeling so natural. It works by pushing around those beautiful dials on the body and lens that control the shutter speed and aperture, as you do so, two arrows and dots inside the viewfinder tell you the exposure. Once you hit the dot between the arrows, you know you’re in business. No wonder all those famous war photographers used it to shoot in hyper-stressful situations.
Once I’d wandered around the beautiful Cotswolds, sticking my nose into places it wasn’t welcome, I hit the end of the film and rewound it. There’s always a vague fear that you’ve messed up the film somehow, but by then I was confident that the mechanically perfect Leica was recording my images. I just had to wait patiently for my scans after I posted off my film.
50 ISO is a very, very slow film. And, as you can see in the photos, it meant I had to wait for a rare sunny day in England. Literally, all of these photos were shot in a single day — the only day of the trip where the clouds broke for a reasonable amount of time.
The first thing I looked for was the focusing, and as I already mentioned, that went exceptionally well; I’m now devastated that for future analog adventures I will be forced to soldier on with the standard SLR manual focus system.
The photos themselves are beautiful. Not the subjects of my photos, of course, but the way the light hits the film. It’s definitely the sharpest set of analog photos I’ve ever captured on 35mm. Not that I’m a veteran, but the pictures, to my eye at least, are notably clear. I think this is down to a combination of new technology being used on the Monopan film, and those gorgeous Leica optics.
My one complaint — and PetaPixel’s editor-in-chief Jaron Schneider picked up on this too — is that the highlights in my photos were a little overexposed. The photos you see on this page have been run through Lightroom and small adjustments have been made: contrast and highlights mainly. In most of the photos, there was enough data to bring the sky back in. Naturally, for my next roll (not that I have another one to shoot), I would factor this in and sway toward the left arrow on the MP’s light meter, but it’s worth noting. This film loves to blow highlights.
Would I buy this Leica MP and shoot Monopan 50 with it? Let me put it another way: would I like to stop writing at PetaPixel, leave my family, run away to a cabin in the woods with only my Leica MP, unlimited rolls of Monopan, and my own darkroom for company?
Why yes, yes I would.
Alternatively, I could trade in my Canon AE-1, but that would still leave me $5,000 short. I guess I’ll keep my day job.
The World Photography Organization and the Sony World Photography Awards have announced that acclaimed photographer Joel Meyerowitz will receive the Outstanding Contribution to Photography Award at the Sony World Photography Awards 2026.
Born in New York City in 1938, Meyerowitz studied painting and medical drawing at Ohio State University before starting his career as an advertising art director. Inspired by watching photographer Robert Frank shoot an advertising campaign for him in 1962, Meyerowitz quit his job and began taking pictures, heading out into the streets with a borrowed camera and a couple of rolls of color film. This proved to be a fateful decision, propelling Meyerowitz toward a long, exceptional career in photography.
Over the years, Meyerowitz’s work has been featured in over 350 exhibitions at renowned museums and galleries worldwide, and his photographs have been published in nearly 60 monographs.
“I am honored to be selected as this year’s Outstanding Contribution to Photography recipient,” Meyerowitz says. “The photographs I have made over the years show the world as I see it, and the moments of beauty, humor and fun that can be found everywhere, if we take the opportunity to look. I hope this exhibition will encourage visitors to look again at their surroundings and engage with all of the life that unfolds around them.”
Meyerowitz’s work, which spans both color and black-and-white photography, is celebrated for its depth, masterful framing, and pointed storytelling. From fast-paced street photography to vast seascapes, his subjects are diverse and wide-ranging. Among Meyerowitz’s most powerful works is his series documenting work at Ground Zero following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. In recent years, his self-portraits have also earned acclaim.
The photographer was among the first to fully embrace color photography, helping bring the medium more attention and acceptance in the broader photographic space. The Sony World Photography Awards notes that Meyerowitz was instrumental in helping establish color photography as a form of fine art.
As part of Meyerowitz’s award, a special retrospective of his work will be shown at the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 exhibition at Somerset House in London. The exhibition will feature Meyerowitz’s photos alongside the video and audio installations created in collaboration with award-winning filmmaker Chris Ryan. The exhibition will feature Meyerowitz’s very early street photography through his most recent works.
Joel Meyerowitz joins 18 prior recipients of the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award, including, most recently, Sebastião Salgado in 2024 and Susan Meiselas earlier this year. Other distinguished winners include Mary Ellen Mark (2014), Martin Parr (2017), Graciela Iturbide (2021), and Edward Burtynsky (2022).
The Sony World Photography Awards 2026 ceremony will take place on April 16, 2026. This is when the overall winners of the Sony World Photography Awards 2026 will also be announced. It is among the most prestigious photography competitions in the world, and the winning photos are always spectacular.
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