Apple alleges that Burst's patents are invalid. Burst promises countersuit.Apple Inc. sued Burst.com Inc., an audio and video delivery technology company, in U.S. District Court in San Francisco yesterday for declaratory relief, alleging patent invalidity or non-infringement, according to representatives from both companies.
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The two companies had been negotiating for several months the issuance of a license to cover Apple's iPod and iTunes products. The suit was filed after those negotiations failed.
"Burst.com approached Apple saying that some of our products violate their patents, but we don't agree," an Apple spokesperson said. "So we've asked the court to decide."
Burst's co-founder and CEO Richard Lang said that Burst will be filing a countersuit.
"There's no question in the public record of who initiated these methodologies," said Lang, referring to the several patents under contention. "We spent most of the 90s promoting these methodologies."
Lang said Burst was open to a pre-trial settlement, but that compensation would have to be commensurate with the value of the patents.
Burst was founded in 1988. A list of its ten US Patents can be found on its Web site.
The patents under dispute are #4963995, Audio/Video Transceiver Apparatus Including Compression Means, filed in 1988; #5164839, Method for Handling Audio/Video Source Information, filed in 1991; and #5995705, Burst Transmission Apparatus and Method for Video Information, filed in 1997.
Burst settled a patent and antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp. last year. Microsoft licensed Burst's patents and paid a lump sum of $60 million. Burst's technology now appears in Windows Media Player.
Burst has since been in licensing discussions with several audio and video distribution companies.
Robert Cringely, reporting on his site, said Burst will shortly file a countersuit against Apple.
Updated: To include quotes from Apple and Burst representatives, and to include patent information.
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