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Apple Hit with iTunes Allowance Law Suit

Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 9:15 AM - by

Apple's iTunes Store Allowance feature is under fire now that Restricted Spending Solutions has filed a lawsuit against the company claiming the feature violates one of its patents. The case was filed on February 6 in Illinois Southern District Court and states that Apple is using the feature in iTunes without authorization or permission.

The patent in question was filed in 2001 and granted in November 2006. It describes a process where customers can use accounts to limit funds for purchasing audio and video content. Apple's iTunes Store Allowance feature lets users create accounts that they add money to, and then use those funds to purchase songs, TV shows, and movies at the iTunes Store.

Michael J. Picciallo and Peter J. Butch, III -- the inventors of the patent -- and Restricted Spending Solutions are asking the court to order Apple to collect, destroy or deliver all products that infringe on their patent; award infringement damages; award lost profits and/or royalties, triple damages, and other costs and attorney fees.

Apple has not commented on the case.

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Tiger said:

member since 17 Jun 2003 with 1018 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:48 am

But does the iTunes system use the same underlying technology, or just the same idea? Is the idea patented, or the technology used to achieve it.

And did the company every do anything to exercise their patent, or did they let it sit idle waiting to sue somebody.

Valid questions, no seeming answers in stories.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Feb 08, 2008 12:58 pm

The patent doesn't apply at all.

Check it out: In the very first claim it specifically claims that their patent is only meant for parents paying for their children. I have checked it, the iTunes system never checks whether the payment comes from a parent, or whether the receiver is a child.

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saintlouisranger said:

member since 19 Dec 2006 with 6 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:01 pm

We do live in a litigious society. Who do you think has the second largest group of lawyers in America? (The largest group work for the US government.) If you haven’t guessed it’s the boys and girls from Microsoft. And Microsoft like a loft of these other fly-by-night companies will sue any one over any thing. I know this to be true because a company I worked for had a suit filed disputing a trademark that was never filed by them and hadn’t been in use by them for fifteen years.

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A guest said: (hide)

Sat Feb 09, 2008 12:02 am

As observed by another guest... the patent does not apply at all. From the patent:

"The present invention relates to systems for transferring funds, such as periodic allowance payments, by an account holder from a preestablished account to a third party recipient for the funds designated by the account holder for use in purchasing audio and video entertainment in the form of goods and services, for example, over the internet. In particular, the present invention relates to systems for transferring funds in which the account holder is provided with control over how the funds are spent by the third party recipient, either with respect to content or dollar amount. "

The so called patent is all about third-party accounts... not a preset allowance in your own account.

Case closed. Please give me $1 million in legal fees.

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