Another day, another lawsuit. Apple has been named in a new California suit that alleges that Apple has infringed upon licensing a media playback patent owned by EPL Holdings that allows device owners to play back audio and video content as varying speeds, reports “The Next Web” (http://macte.ch/kXmL4).
In a document filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of California, EPL states that on Jan. 28, 2002, it met with Apple employee Tony Fadell ofApple’s iPod division to discuss the technologies EPL and its predecessor Enounce Inc. had developed. According to the filing, after the two parties met on Feb. 5, 2002, to discuss licensing of the patents, Enounce and Apple entered into a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that expired on Feb. 6, 2006.
Per “The Next Web,” discussions centered on US patent numbers 5,175,769 (’769 patent) and 7,683,903 (’903 patent), technology that allows media content to be played back at faster and slower speeds. EPL wants a jury trial to decide whether Apple did indeed infringe on the ’769 and ’903 patents.
