Is this true!? Because if it is this is the hieght of absurdity and I know a WHOLE lot of people who will want to here about it so they can laugh and laugh... and then cry.
It's the first I've heard of such a thing, that's for sure. -Mike mmeiser.com/blog On 1/9/07, WWWhatsup <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > http://www.out-law.com/page-7623 > > Google, Apple and Napster are being sued over their online video businesses > by a company that stopped offering internet video years ago. Intertainer > holds a patent that it says is being infringed by some of the tech world's > biggest names. > > The company now only consists of two people, according to press reports, but > it will seek to assert its patent rights in a Texas court after filing an > action on 29th December. It had applied for a patent covering internet video > distribution, and that was awarded in 2005. > > Intertainer was founded in 1996 to distribute films over the internet and > won investment from Sony, Microsoft and Intel. It stopped that business in > 2002. > > The company holds nine patents, and the current action is based on US patent > number 6,925,469, which covers the distribution and management of digital > media files. > > Intertainer is seeking an injuction and unspecified damages from the three > companies and it is thought likely that it will pursue further suits if this > one is successful. Intertainer founder Jonathan Taplin told the New York > Times that the company would now begin a patent licensing business. > > "Intertainer was the leader of the idea of entertainment on demand over > internet platforms before Google was even thought up," he said. > > The choice of a Texas court is likely to have been influenced by the > reputation that some Texas courts have for handing out patent-related > judgments favourable to patent holders. > > Intertainer did not file the application for the patent in question until > 2001, five years after the company was founded and after some companies were > already offering video and audio material for download. That delay in filing > could complicate the company's claims. > > Google owns YouTube, which leads the world in internet video. The site > offers short clips of often amateur-produced content for viewing on > computers and was bought by Google for shares worth $1.65 billion last > autumn. > > Apple owns and operates iTunes, the world's biggest legal music download > service which is also moving into the business of selling video downloads. > > See: US Patent No. 6,925,469 > http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect2=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PALL&RefSrch=yes&Query=PN%2F6925469 > > --------------------------------------------------------------- > WWWhatsup NYC > http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com > --------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > >
