AppleInsider StaffApple Inc. is among a handful of digital music player manufacturers that are being sued by a little-known Texas firm for infringement on an MP3-related patent.
In the complaint, Texas MP3 Technologies alleges that Apple, Samsung, and Sandisk are infringing on U.S. patent 7,065,417, which was awarded in June 2006 to former iPod chip-maker SigmaTel and covers "an MPEG portable sound reproducing system and a method for reproducing sound data compressed using the MPEG method."
It's reported that SigmaTel flipped the patent to a Dallas, Texas-based patent licensing agency shortly after receiving rights because it felt the agency was better served to capitalize on its value potential.
"Because these are such basic patents to digital music, we believe it will be difficult to design around these patents and have a commercially viable player," SigmaTel said in a statement at the time.
InfoWorld notes that it is unclear whether Texas MP3 Technologies is the Dallas-based company that bought the patents from SigmaTel or whether it acquired them from somewhere else.
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41 Comments
And so it begins...
Wow, if Apple didn't have to fight a new lawsuit every three days, just imagine where all that extra money could go.
If I'm reading this correctly, they're suing because of the decoding chip / method? Who knows, but would it be safe to say if SigmaTel was the chip-maker, and they got bought out, that any patent agreements would go with the sale? Also, if SigmaTel is no longer the iPod chip maker, then why in the hell would they be suing in the first place.
Oh man ... it's only Monday
And I just got through reading the older one.
Sebastian
We should start a new website This Week in Apple Lawsuits
Good god. It looks like someone is out to make a quick and easy buck. ?
If SigmaTel was the former provider of iPod chips, then all is well until the end of Tel,
when everything belongs to someone else and all might go to hell.
I'm rhyming, a sure sign of sleep deprivation.
Would they sue for recent abuse or is this a blanket suit for all damages evaaa?
We should start a new website This Week in Apple Lawsuits
The upkeep would likely require a full-time staff at the rate we're moving right now.