"apple sued" title: why?
Is it just to attract The Webster? Or did "Apple, Logitech, Netgear, D-Link, Samsung, Pioneer, Yamaha, D&M Holdings and Denon sued" not fit?
A little-known maker of wireless media players is suing Apple, alleging the Mac maker not only used its technology without permission but poached staff to do so more easily. EZ4Media this week filed a complaint against Apple in the US District Court of Northern Illinois. It said Apple's Apple TV set-top box, the Airport …
instead of waiting for years to pop up with a patent shakedown, if a patent holder doesn't come up within 12 months of a product's retail release, then they cannot sue.
I don't like patent poaching and usually support the "little guy" against the mega-corps, but to wait years after products have been sold, praised, advertised, etc...is just plain extortion.
So, let me get this straight. If I stream audio from the Internet (or other sources) over a wireless network using an old laptop then that's OK but if I put the laptop in some kind of box and just run the audio program then I'm violating a patent?
Please, someone, tell me I got it wrong...
Henry - the Airport Express (which did audio streaming) predates the Apple TV by some time, and I suspect any hires from UE (although no doubt they got their jobs because they had skills on a similar product).
That doesn't predate the patents. On the other hand, I don't think they should have been granted, as there is no clear innovation here (wireless audio extenders have existed for years, as has streaming audio over TCP/IP, as has wireless TCP/IP).