Another day, another lawsuit. Software Restore Solutions (SRS) have filed a lawsuit (https://www.rfcexpress.com/lawsuit.asp?id=59668) in the Illinois Northern District Court claiming that Apple and 26 other companies have infringed on one of its patents. The lawsuit was filed on Friday, June 11.
Besides Apple, the other companies being sued are: Activision Blizzard, Adobe Systems, Autodesk, Capcom, Citrix, Corel Corp. and Corel, Inc., Dassault, Delcam, Square Enix, Electronic Arts, Frontrange Solutions, International Business Machines, Intuit, Konami, Maximizer Software, Nuance Communications, Parametric Technology, Sage Software, SEGA of America, Skype, SPSS, Teradata, THQ, and Legacy Interactive.
The patent in question (number 5,832,511) is for a “workgroup network manager for controlling the operation of workstations within the computer network.” Per the patent — filed in 1996 — the workgroup organized network manager organizes workstations into workgroups and controls the distribution of information to each of the workstations within a defined workgroup. The tasks each workstation performs are defined by a specification consisting of programs. A library of programs is maintained on a host workstation designated as a controlling workstation within the workgroup.
The host workstation keeps track of activity occurring on the individual workstations within the workgroup. A file maintenance and inventory system compares the attributes of files, directories, and software located on the workstation to check for discrepancies between files, directories, or software intended to be identical and for locating missing or extra files, directories, and software.
According to “The Loop” (http://www.loopinsight.com/2010/06/15/apple-26-other-companies-charged-with-patent-infringement/), SRS says iTunes software infringes the patent because it is “designed to enable automated repair functionality for automatically resetting the software application to a preferred configuration during use based on an automated comparison of prior and current configuration status.” SRS is seeking an unspecified amount of monetary damages.