Korrupted Posted April 18, 2006 Share Posted April 18, 2006 Burst.com filed a patent counterclaims lawsuit in the Federal District Court in San Francisco on Monday accusing Apple of infringing on four of its patents. Burst claims that Apple’s iTunes Music Store, iTunes software, the iPod devices and Apple’s QuickTime Streaming products are all affected by the patents. Burst filed the suit in response to an Apple filing earlier this year asking the courts to rule that Burst’s patents were invalid and as such Apple did not infringe on them. In its counterclaim Burst is asking that Apple pay a reasonable royalty for its infringing products and services — Burst is also seeks an injunction against further infringement. Burst said in the filing that its technology has been essential to Apple’s success, providing it with a critical audio and video-on-demand media delivery solution. Burst’s Chairman & CEO Richard Lang said the company did not want to settle things in court, but will enforce its patent. “We have a responsibility to protect our patents and to seek a fair return for the many years and tremendous investment that we have made in developing Burst technology and patents,” said Lang in a prepared statement. Microsoft settled a similar lawsuit brought by Burst in March 2005. Microsoft paid Burst $60 million for a non-exclusive license for the patents. Lang speculated that Apple might have assumed that Burst’s patents would be invalidated in Microsoft’s defense of the then-pending litigation. “While we had hoped to avoid litigation and negotiate a reasonable license fee, it is Apple’s own actions that have forced our hand,” said Lang. “We now look to the courts to reaffirm Burst’s rights as innovators and to be paid fairly for our widely acknowledged contributions to the industry.” An Apple representative was not immediately available for comment. Source: http://www.macworld.com/news/2006/04/17/patent/index.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Nonny Moose Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 This happens with every company when they have a smash hit. Someone comes in and tries to use the courts to wedge some money out of the whole deal. If they were so concerned with "keeping their patents safe," they should have sued immediately, not after iTunes became such a huge hit. This stinks of money mongering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thrunner Posted April 21, 2006 Share Posted April 21, 2006 Well, what patents applicable to Microsoft should also apply to Apple as well. That is just uniform justice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Nonny Moose Posted April 22, 2006 Share Posted April 22, 2006 The thing is, everyone uses either Windows Media format or they go through iTunes. It's a question of why didn't they sue already and instead waited until it became popular before saying, "Hey, we have patents! We're suing!!!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suleiman Posted April 23, 2006 Share Posted April 23, 2006 Nonny Moose, please bear in mind that this is a counterclaim being brought by Burst.com, not a claim. Apple was the the first to sue them. As the future (hopeful) owner of a few patents myself, I can testify that companies do spend tremendous sums and invest several tens of thousands of dollars just in researching and filing their patents. If it meant other big players could come onto the scene and steal it without batting an eyelid, then the value of that document would be worthless. It clearly is not, and so it's no small coincidence that Burst is "enforcing" their patent now--if they didn't, their patents would literally be worthless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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