A federal judge has ordered Apple to pay a huge fine for infringement of two patents of Personal Audio, related to the creation and use of palaylist iPod .
The news was confirmed by Bloomberg who has collected the statements of the Advocate Personal Audio, which upheld the conviction. In the same case were also involved Irius XM Radio, Coby Electronics and Archos which, however, the first term, have reached an agreement outside court.
Personal Audio sued Apple for patent infringement in 2009 asking for compensation of 84 millions of tourists and dollars. The two patents were the “U.S. patents 6,199,076: Audio Player Program Including a Dynamic Controller Selection Program” and “7,509,178: Audio Program Distribution and Playback System.” Specifically regarding the ability to create and navigate playlists. The California company has always denied the violation.
Florian Mueller, an expert on the specific patents that Apple has little incentive to appeal against the conviction, given the amount of compensation far below the demand for damages by the Personal Audio. Nevertheless, from Cupertino may still appeal, and then try extra-judicial agreement.
Muller goes on to mention that this case it is reminiscent of another that sees the protagonist once again Apple, even if indirectly, that is the cause that is going on between the developers and Lodsys IOS, which sees the latter accusing the developers of breach patent for the in-app purchasing system provided in the IOS.
We recall that only a few days ago Apple has purchased for $ 2 billion of Nortel’s patents by the hope of gaining a competitive advantage against its competitors in the market for smartphones.
We close the paper with a very significant: Apple in recent years the company has become the most sued for patent infringement.
