Emblaze Also Accuses Microsoft of Technology Infringement

Israeli company Emblaze on Wednesday said it has notified Microsoft that the company infringes on its U.S. patent for media streaming technology. Last December, Emblaze filed a lawsuit against Apple for the same infringement, giving the company a Dec. 15 deadline to reply; it did not say if Apple has responded yet. Microsoft has until March 15 to respond to the complaint.

Emblaze said it had been working on its technology for more than a decade and “first unveiled its technology to the public in a live video streaming broadcast from the White House during Easter, 1998,” according to a press release issued by the company. The technology is planned for use in the First ELSE mobile device created by an Emblaze subsidiary.

Emblaze said that Microsoft’s IIS Smooth Streaming and Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming Application, which is used in Mac OS X Snow Leopard as well as the iPhone OS, infringe on its patent. Chairman Naftali Shani said: “While we are happy to license our technology to third parties, we will vigorously defend our rights and our competitive position.”