View this article at: http://dev.macnn.com/articles/05/08/17/apple.named.in.drm.lawsuit
Wednesday, Aug 17, 2005 8:20am

Apple, Sony, others named i...

Five of the top companies in the online music industry--including Apple and Sony--are being sued because their music stores and DRM technology violate a seven-year old music DRM technology patent, according to AppleInsider. Earlier this month Ho Keung Tse of Hong Kong filed a lawsuit in US Federal Court alleging that the DRM technology used by Apple, Sony, Real Networks, Napster and MusicMatch infringes on his U.S. Patent No. 6,665,797, which describes a method for "Protection of Software Against Unauthorized Use". Update: The lawsuit follows virtually identical allegations made earlier this year by Hong Kong Pat-rights, which claimed that Apple's iTunes/iPod system violates the same DRM patent. As a royalty, the company was seeking 12-percent of Apple's profits on the revenues generated from iTunes and iPod sales, and had given Apple until the end of March to respond.

The DRM technique relies heavily on a "psychological barrier" to discourage users from sharing music by embedding personal information into each music file the user purchases. Demanding a trial by jury, Tse is seeking both actual and statutory damages resulting from the infringement, following unsuccessful negotiations with each company--including Apple--for royalties payments.