C&D letters sent to Apple, MS; $200b suit threatened
updated 07:05 pm EDT, Fri May 11, 2007
C&D letters sent to Apple
Apple along with other technology giants such as Microsoft, Adobe, and RealNetworks were sent a cease & desist on Friday demanding they integrate Media Rights Technologies' (MRT) proprietary technology to prevent music streams from being "ripped." While most intellectual property lawsuits focus on infringement, the novel approach taken by MRT may be a first in the industry, according to AppScout. MRT claims that Digital Millennium Copyright Act signed into law by President Clinton, and invoked in the Grokster decision, forces companies to comply with the act and provide copy-control technologies. MRT, which took its technology to Microsoft but was blown off, says it has given each company 10 days to respond and will file lawsuits against those companies totaling more than $200 billion dollars.
Devices makers such as Apple, Real, and Microsoft are deliberately designing their players with loopholes to allow copyright infringement, according to MRT representatives quoted by the publication.
MRT says it is acting on behalf on BlueBeat.com, which has a legal obligation to protect its content. According to the report, BlueBeat was recently hit with a $150 million cease-and-desist letter by the RIAA, when the copyright protection on its content was "accidently" circumvented in an upgrade to Windows Media Player.
MRT says that the suits could also extend to companies like YouTube and CNN, which also use the infringing technology.
I Laugh Every Time....
05/11, 07:26pm reply
I see this reported. This is so hilarious. This company has got to have the only CEO who is more fracking out of his head than "Foot In His Mouth" Ballmer.
This sounds a lot like blackmail to me.....
I can't wait to see this being thrown out and hopefully some lawsuits against this company due to the frivilous nature of this.
jhawk95
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2006
ROTFLOL
05/11, 07:27pm reply
I guess this will be a new form of extortion: "if you DON'T use my product I will sue you".
Let's see? Should I give this a snowball's chance in h*** of succeeding or how about 99.9999999% of failing.
shmoolie
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Joined: May 2002
Bah,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha...
05/11, 07:36pm reply
Yea, right. If you don't use my product your violating what? What a fricking joke! Why do they let such non-sense enter a court of law in the first place? Apple uses there own copy protection called fairplay.
horvatic
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Joined: Apr 2002
What does Apple have to d
05/11, 07:39pm reply
What does Apple have to do with this other company bluebeat? How does that make Apple responsible for what bluebeat puts up without copy protection and why the h*** does MRT care? The whole thing is stupid and I hope the judge lets them know that loud and clear!
horvatic
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2002
penalties
05/11, 07:52pm reply
the law is set up to make it legally possible for a small individual to sue a large corporation without fear of being "priced out of the lawsuit"... but the abuse of this by lawyers and greedy business men needs to be stemmed.
i'd like to see a punitive measure added; should a jury or judge find the lawsuit without merit, the plaintiff and their attorney's are immediately subject to fines of 25% of the suit, if they are unable to pay then they are sentenced to 1 year of jail for every million dollars they sued for.
dashiel
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Joined: Sep 2001
LAwsuit
05/11, 08:26pm reply
Fsck the American legal system for making stuff like this possible.
Pretty soon companies like Apple and Microsoft wont be able to innovate as they'll be spending all their time fighting off nonsensical lawsuits like this.
coldfusion1970
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 2004
bluebeat? not on a mac.
05/11, 08:50pm reply
Their player isn't available for the mac, so just how much kool-aid did these guys mix up?
jpellino
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 1999
stop the stupidity
05/11, 09:49pm reply
Please.. This is just a stupid advertising gimick, to get the companies name out there. Remember, nowadays, any publicity is good publicity.
Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Nov 1999
Lawyers = spawn of satan
05/11, 11:31pm reply
How do these creeps sleep at night?
I look forward to the day when a bill is signed into law that punishes individuals who bring forth frivolous lawsuits such as this with prison time.
They are wasting tax payers money and stealing money from shareholders because the companies have to pay for a legal defence.
aristotles
Senior User
Joined: Jul 2004
Who's Next ?
05/12, 12:58am reply
Plankton and Mr Krabs for not covering the tartar sauce.......
HouseSold
Mac Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 2000