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Apple Hit with MP3 Patent Suit
Sunday, February 25th, 2007 at 2:00 PM - by Jeff Gamet
Apple, Samsung, and Sandisk are all targets of an MP3 patent infringement lawsuit, but this one isn't from Alcatel-Lucent. Instead, Texas MP3 Technologies is claiming the companies are infringing on an MP3-related patent it purchased from Sigma Tel in 2006, according to InfoWorld.
The patent in question describes "an MPEG portable sound reproducing system and a method for reproducing sound data compressed using the MPEG method."
Since the patent seems to describe devices like Apple's iPod as well as other portable MP3 players, it's unclear why other portable music player makers - like Microsoft and Creative - are not named in the suit. Presumably, other companies either found a way to work around the alleged patent infringement, or have paid licensing fees to Texas MP3 Technologies.
MP3 patent lawsuits seem to be making the rounds lately. Last week, a San Diego court ruled that Microsoft must pay Alcatel-Lucent US$1.52 billion for MP3-related patent infringements. In that case, Microsoft's lawyers claimed the company had legitimately licensed the MP3 technologies it used in Windows from the German company Fraunhofer - the company that co-developed the technology with Lucent (formerly Bell Labs).
Texas MP3 Technologies filed its suit in Marshall, Texas, which is a popular location for patent infringement cases thanks to its reputation for juries that are more likely to rule in favor of the plaintiff. Of course, Texas MP3 Technologies is asking for a jury trial.
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