Slashdot Mirror
Companies Claim iTMS, iPod Patent Infringement
ryan_fung writes "A Hong Kong based company, Pat-rights, is claiming that Apple's iTunes Music Store is infringing their patent on 'Internet User Identity Verification' and is demanding Apple pay 'a reasonable license fee, 12% of gross sales of iTunes music tracks and iPods.'" (They also claim infringement by eBay, porn sites, and others.) Reader bblazer links to a Register article which mentions both the Pat-Rights claim and another suit entirely. From the article: "Apple has found itself facing a pair of intellectual property challenges that separately claim its FairPlay DRM system and its iPod music player contain technologies to which the Mac maker does not have a right. First up, Lake Forest, Illinois-based Advanced Audio Devices (AAD) alleges its patent, number 6,587,403, for a 'music jukebox,' filed in August 2000 but granted in July 2003, covers the kind of thing Apple has brought to market as the iPod."
Time for Apple's Ninja Attack Lawyers to do something productive! They've been kinda bored and . . . . suey lately. Now they'll be distracted kicking an ass that deserves it for awhile.
Only in a Slashdot fantasy can a Slackware install turn into several hours of sex . . . . .
1. Take out patent on "FUD".
2. Take out patent on "Prior art".
3. Profit!
When will a company have the balls to respond to such a patent claim by FedExing a piece of paper containing two words: "Fuck off"?
It's about time someone did something like that in response to this sort of BS.
With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
Reminds me of that movie Mars Attacks (1996) Just after the aliens destroy congress, the President says
"I want the people to know that they still have 2 out of 3 branches of the government working for them, and that ain't bad."
-William
God is everything science has yet to explain.