Support Our Site
Get Better Gear!
- Kensington Windshield/Vent Car Mount with Sound Amplified Cradle for iPhone from Kensington, $39.99
- SigFx Energy iPhone Case Contains Smart Battery from SigFx Energy, US$69.95
- NAVIGON AG - True GPS Software for the iPhone from NAVIGON Inc., 89.99
- Tweetie 2 from atebits, $2.99
- Snood: Flawed Casual Play from Electronic Arts, US$3.99
Premier Sponsors
Top 5 Free Apps
iTunes New Music Releases
Top 5 Paid Apps
Discover New Music
- Death Cab for Cutie
With the introduction of Plans, Death Cab for Cutie became a new addition to many user's Artist list after the single "Soul Meets Body" became a hit on iTunes. Offering a fresh alternativ
- Brother Love
- Killer grooves, catchy riffs, edgy vocals with oh-so-just-right layered harmonies, and a drive that will move even YOU out of your chair, Brother Love's initial release is what rock and roll should be
- Wolfmother
Black Sabbath, The White Stripes, The Stooges. There aren't many bands worth their salt that want to be compared to other bands, but when I listen to Wolfmother's self-titled American debut, I can
- Alanis Morissette
- Ten years after the original release, comes the traditional celebratory acoustic re-recording. The album has held up remarkably well. While it is not as meaningful to me as it was when I was sixteen,
An Evening with George Shearing & Mel Torm�
- Mel Torm� & George Shearing
- Of the three men who taught me how to sing, the last was Mel Torme. Apparently, Mel Torme is a joke to anyone more than a decade older than me, a living parody of a Vegas crooner. But I stumbled on th
Reader Specials
Visit Deals On The Web for the best deals on all consumer electronics, iPods, and more!
News
ZapMedia Hits Apple with iPod/iTunes Lawsuit
Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 4:00 PM - by Jeff Gamet
ZapMedia Services filed a lawsuit against Apple on Wednesday that claims the Cupertino company is infringing on its patents with the iPod and iTunes Store. The Atlanta-based company filed its case in the Marshall Office of the Texas Eastern District Court -- a court well known for favoring plaintiffs in patent infringement cases.
The patents in question, numbers 7,020,704 and 7,343,414, describe a "System and method for distributing media assets to user devices via a portal synchronized by said user devices." That description also sounds strikingly similar to Apple’s iPod and iTunes Store.
ZapMedia Services claimed that it showed its technology to Apple in the late 1990’s, and that Apple subsequently released the iPod and later the iTunes Store without licensing the company’s patents.
Hill, Kertscher & Wharton’s Steven G. Hill, lead litigation counsel to ZapMedia Services, commented "The Complaint alleges that ZapMedia Services’ property is being exploited in a manner which is unlawful, and by law ZapMedia Services is therefore entitled to a reasonable royalty on Apple’s revenues related to the infringement."
Even though ZapMedia Services is based in Georgia and Apple Inc. is based in California, it’s no small coincidence that the case was filed in Texas. The Texas Eastern District Court has a history of favoring plaintiffs and for awarding steep damages. Both could work in ZapMedia’s favor since many big companies choose to settle out of court instead of risking the Texas Court fines.
Apple is sticking with its standard policy and has not commented on the pending litigation.
Recent Headlines
- Apple TV 3.0.1 Update Fixes Missing Content Bug
- Taiwan Leak Shows Verizon UTMS/CDMA iPhone for Q3 2010
- iPhone Moves Into RadioShack
- Dictionary, Dictionary, Dictionary, And More
- The Latest App Store Games: Gravity Sling, RocketBird, Ground Effect, Checkers!
- iPhone Game Developer Sued for Collecting User’s Cell Numbers
- Apple May Be Bringing RFID to the iPhone
Post Your Comments