By Tom Krazit, 18 April 2006 08:20
NEWS
Burst.com has filed a countersuit against Apple claiming that the iTunes software, the iPod and the Quicktime streaming software all infringe on patents held by Burst.com.
After being approached by Burst.com in late 2004, Apple had filed for a declaratory judgment in January that it isn't infringing on Burst's patents but Burst is going ahead with its lawsuit, filed on Monday in federal court in San Francisco. Burst is asking for royalties as well as an injunction, it said in a press release.
Burst has developed software that helps companies speed up the delivery of audio and video files over a network. The company was involved in a similar patent infringement dispute with Microsoft last year that ended with a $60m settlement and a Microsoft licence to the Burst technology.
Apple and Burst had held discussions over the past year regarding the patents but never came to any licensing agreement. Apple doesn't believe the patents are valid, it said in January.
Richard Lang, co-founder, chairman and CEO of Burst, said the company's patented technology involves the delivery of music or video over the internet "faster than real-time". A television programme over a broadcast network is delivered in real-time, meaning an hour-long show is delivered over the course of an hour. But Burst holds patents that cover sending an hour-long video across a network in a few minutes, in addition to other technology involved in delivering that video or audio content, he said.
Three of the four patents at issue in the new lawsuit are the same as the ones involved in the Microsoft suit, Lang said. An Apple representative did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Tom Krazit writes for CNET News.com
Comments
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1. anonymous
'Faster than real time delivery'?
Like FTPing a media file across an internet connection and viewing it as it comes?
Sounds like a meaningful patent.
They're website sums up their 'burst' technology as:
'
Bursting, on the other hand, bursts content in Faster-Than-Real-Time or faster than the rate of play. This allows the player to build up a large cache of data and play the content smoothly and reliably, resulting in a higher-quality viewing experience.
'
So the 'technology' that they claim to have invented and patented would appear to be a consist of:
A) compression
B) a large buffer
2. Joe Whitehead
It's like the old spreadsheet patent:
1) Start at the upper-lefthand corner.
2) Show data.
3) Go right one step per read until the end of line.
4) Go to the left-most item in the next row.
5) Add, repeat, rinse.
Doesn't that sound a lot like reading a page in a book?!