Another day, another lawsuit. Apple has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by patent-holding company Minerva Industries that accused the iPhone maker of infringing its patent for mobile media technology, reports “Law 360” (http://macosg.me/2/mh).
In January 2008, Los Angeles-based Minerva Industries sued Apple and satellite phone company Atlantic RT for patent infringement regarding a patent covering mobile entertainment and communications devices. The company filed the patent infringement lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas on Tuesday, just hours after having been granted United States Patent No. 7,321,783 entitled “Mobile Entertainment and Communication Device,” .
The six-page formal complaint alleges that representatives from Minerva informed Apple of their pending application with United States Patent and Trademark Office covering iPhone concepts back in November, but that Apple “waited until approximately one week before the patent was to issue before sending prior art” in an attempt to trump the filing with one of its own. Apple and Minerva have filed a joint motion to dismiss all claims and counterclaims, stipulating that each party would bear its own costs and attorneys’ fees.
That lawsuit may be settled, but now Apple is facing an infringement suit from an Israeli technology company claiming the company ripped off a media streaming patent. Ra’anana, Israel-based Emblaze announced the suit Thursday, saying Apple has refused to license the technology at issue.
Emblaze says it warned Apple in December 2009 that the iPhone maker’s recently announced HTTP live streaming application, used on the iPhone, the iPod touch, Mac OS X and the iPad, would infringe the plaintiff’s patent for streaming technology.