Burst Lawsuit Against Apple Will Proceed

by , 4:35 PM EST, November 9th, 2007

In a ruling by the U.S. District Court in Northern California on Thursday, 14 of the claims of infringement between Apple and Burst were thrown out, according to a statement by Burst. However, 22 of the claims remain, and Burst is looking forward to a trial on those remaining claims.

On Thursday, Burst published a statement which said:

"Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of The United States District Court, Northern California, today issued an order that invalidated as obvious or anticipated 14 claims in the patents in suit between Apple Computer and Burst.com, Inc. The order leaves 22 claims remaining, claims that the court did not find as invalid or anticipated. These remaining 22 claims include some significant audio and video claims that reach key Apple products including the Macintosh Computer. Burst looks forward to trying its case in court against Apple early next year."

Burst first filed a counterclaim in April, 2007 which claimed that Apple's iTunes Music Store, iTunes software, the iPod devices, and Apple’s QuickTime Streaming products infringe on U.S. Patents 4,963,995; 5,995,705; 5,057,932 and 5,164,839. That was in response to Apple's claims made in January to find some of Bursts patents invalid.

Burst settled its case with Microsoft last year, and Microsoft paid Burst a lump sum of US$60M.