$8M iPod Playlist for Apple

Apple continues on the route to self-discovery with another court case loss. Apple was accused of violating patents in respect of playlists for the iPod. Patent licensing company, Personal Audio, sued Apple for $83M in damages. Apple claimed that the patents were invalid and that it was not using the inventions.

It is unlikely that Apple will appeal given that the damages awarded to Personal Audio of $8M is a drop in the ocean in comparison to the $83M the company had claimed and Apples $60 billion cash reserves.

Similar to Apple’s ongoing suite with Lodsys over iOS developer patent infringing, Personal Audio generates its income from patent licensing and both Lodsys and Personal Audio took their cases to East Texas, a district known for favoring the so-called “patent trolls”.

Apple’s latest acquisition of Canada’s Nortel for $2 billion ramps up its advantage in the smartphone race.

With patent suits becoming an everyday norm, Apple has become the world’s most-sued

Thank you for reading my article. dani2xll

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This entry was posted on Saturday, July 9th, 2011 at 11:49 and is filed under Apple, Apple / iOS, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.