Burst Countersues Apple Over Patents
Following through on a statement made in January, patent holder Burst.com announced Tuesday it had filed a countersuit against Apple Computer for infringing on four of the company's streaming media patents. Apple filed a lawsuit in January to preemptively invalidate Burst's patents.
At issue are the iTunes Music Store, iTunes software and Apple's QuickTime Streaming products, which Burst claims infringe on U.S. Patents 4,963,995; 5,995,705; 5,057,932 and 5,164,839. The company had attempted to settle with Apple two years ago, but talks broke down and Burst threatened to sue late last year.
Burst says it, "requests in its counterclaims that Apple pay a reasonable royalty for Apple’s infringing products and services, and also seeks an injunction against further infringement." The April 17 court filing alleges that Burst's technologies have been "essential" to Apple's success.
“We have a responsibility to protect our patents and to seek a fair return for the many years and tremendous investment that we have made in developing Burst technology and patents," said Burst.com chairman and CEO Richard Lang.
The company has hired four separate law firms to aid its legal efforts.
Burst is no stranger to litigation with large tech companies. Last year, the company settled with Microsoft for $60 million over allegations that Redmond used trade information obtained from several meetings with Burst to develop software to stream audio and video over the Internet.
Lang says that Apple may have incorrectly assumed Microsoft would help to invalidate the patents and avoid paying royalties.