“Apple Computer has asked a federal court to determine that Burst.com’s allegations of patent infringement are invalid,” Dawn Kawamoto reports for CNET News. “‘In late 2005, in at least one written communication, Burst.com’s attorneys threatened litigation against Apple,’ the complaint states. ‘Apple denies that any of the patents in (the) suit are or have been infringed by Apple and disputes their validity.’ Burst.com, in response to Apple’s complaint, said it plans to file a countersuit alleging patent infringement related to the iPod and iTunes, as well as to Apple’s QuickTime software. A representative for Apple noted: ‘Unfortunately, we have been unable to resolve the disagreement with Burst directly, so we are asking the court to decide.'”
Full article here.
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Apple Computer sues Burst after negotiations over iTunes, iPod patent licenses breakdown – January 06, 2006
damn and phooey!
Hong Kong Phooey!!
Stinkin’ Chop Suey!!!!!
Burst is full of hooey.
Macworld just went kablooey.
rat-ta-tat-tat. there goes my pirate booty
Burst looks like a company that couldn’t design a paper bag, much less any element of an iPod, iTunes or Quicktime. But that’s just from a quick judgement of their website. I don’t know much about Burst’s company history. Seems like just another day, another lawsuit, another dollar in a lawyer’s pocket.
Boy, JadisOne completely missed out on all the fun – I like Ratatouille.
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I think we’ve all known for a while that burst.com is screwy.
“…..Last March, Microsoft and Burst reached a $60 million settlement over allegations that the software giant had used, without permission, Burst’s technology to speed delivery of video…….”
Somewhere … there is an old lady who spilled hot (McDonalds) coffee in her lap … just laffing her ass off !
I swear i think Im going to become an attorney.
hammer… you’ll need a frontal lobotomy first. Just remember 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
Let’s see. Burst settles first with Microsoft. And now, right before Macworld there is a legal dispute that could effect Mr. Jobs product presentation.
Coincidence? Probably not.
Never underestimate the depths that some players will go to to win.
It won’t take long for burst.com to burst through the $60m from Mycrowsoft in legal fees…
Why on earth could this stop Macworld????
If you think burst.com is going to get the courts to stop Apple’s business in its tracks between now and next week..then think again.
Bollocks.Chances are Microsoft only paid up to encourage/fund burst to have a crack at Apple because of their iPod dominance.
I’ll put my house on Apple winning this in the courts…
And with that, I say, “Baba-booey!”
What it comes down to is that Burst believes they’ve patented some mechanism such that anyone who does video streaming over the Internet will have to use it. Apple’s point is that what Burst has patented is so so basic to the art that they don’t deserve a patent.
But this won’t stop Apple from going ahead. Rather, I think this was a great PR move by Apple; get this issue out of the way before Apple releases its next great thing on Tuesday. Otherwise, next Tuesday afternoon, just after the keynote, Burst would’ve surprised everyone by filing suit and mucking up the great PR from the keynote. Now, it will just be an afterthought, not a surprise.
By the way, in the previous MDN article, the Burst CEO says he knows why Apple filed suit: to keep the issue on Apple’s home turf of Northern Cal. But then he says Northern Cal is also Burst’s home turf. So he doesn’t really know why. By opening his mouth, the Burst CEO just showed how little he knows about marketing and PR. That’s why Burst has few products and miniscule sales, but plenty of lawsuits.
It seems the surprise will be this: is the movie streaming from the iTunes Store bought, subscribed to, or both?
BuriedCaesar,
When I typed my post, there were no others on the page. I stepped away before hitting submit. After sitting back down and submitting the article, I noticed that I was the killjoy of the party. Sorry.
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yeah shadow but Ill be halfway to my life’s goal of being considered eccentric. I’m already part crazy now, but with a lobotomy and a lot of money, I’ll be right in line to meet my life goal.
Funny how the only difference between being and eccentric and a crazy homeless person is a lot of money.
When you’re king of the hill, as Apple is now in this arena, the jackals circle around you nipping at your heels hoping to “get lucky.”
After perusing Burst’s website, I have to say Burst really appears to be a “one-trick pony.”
But, to be honest, by all accounts Burst technology appears to be excellent for what it is designed for. Unfortunately, I think this is also their major shortcoming. Their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness, because from a wider technology perspective, Burst took a turn down an evolutionary dead-end, technology-wise.
Burst technology is designed for small pipelines.
When really large pipeline infrastructure/technology is in place most everywhere (and eventually it will be), who’s going to need it?
Burst technology is just a stop gap on the evolving information superhighway.
Quicktime has been around FOREVER! I’d happily “burst” their bubble. ; )