Apple's ongoing legal battle with David Contois is finally over, now that the patent he says Apple stole from him was awarded to the iPod maker in an out-of-court settlement. The patent in question describes how computers manage and download media files to external devices -- in essence, exactly what iTunes does. Michael Starkweather, the attorney who wrote the patent for Contois, said, "That's the billion dollar patent. I believe that, with this patent in hand, Apple will eventually be after every phone company, filmmaker, computer maker and video producer to pay royalties on every download of not just music, but also movies and videos." Contois and his company, Contois Music & Technology, filed a suit against Apple in February 2006 claiming that the iTunes software violated his patent in 21 different ways. At the time, he asked the court for monetary damages and an order to prevent Apple from distributing iTunes.

Posted by GEN-ERIC at 12:05:43 am into the following categories: In The News

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