Apple and Burst.com at peace by Claudia Sonea

On Wednesday Apple and Burst.com ended a legal lawsuit over a patent, after almost 2 years. The dispute started after in 2004 Burst approached Apple to secure a license for the Burst technology and then Burst's attorneys brought on Apple the allegation of infringing on patents. Due to the fact that political debates failed Apple filed with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco a declaratory relief complaint. Technology used in Apple's popular iPod player and iTunes software and service is Discord's apple. Burst.com in a press release that the agreement between the two supposed for Apple to get complete access to Burst.com's patent portfolio with some exceptions (current and pending patents, including three pending patents relating to digital video recorder (DVR) technology) in exchange of $10 million. Furthermore, Burst agreed not to sue Apple over current or pending DVR patents. After the court expenses are deducted, the proceeds to Burst.com will be reduced to $4.6 million. Neither Apple's officials, nor Burst's were found to give any comments on the matter or on the agreement. Despite the fact that Burst won, there is a certain doubt if the giant company actually infringed Burst's pattern or it just settled out an agreement because the lawsuit became more expensive than a deal. The company Burst.com sued Microsoft last year for a similar reason and demanded $60 million compensation. Is there a pattern or indeed the giants dared to steal from them? Don't go away, this problem promises to be more than interesting, therefore: more to come!

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/macworld/20071122/tc_macworld/lawsuit20071121;_ylt=AsjvUW971tpZzgaL5aYn85AjtBAF

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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