Apple faces patent lawsuit over iPod
We've admittedly gotten a little obsessed with all the minutiae of Apple's various legal actions against bloggers and news sites over product leaks, but now it's their turn (again) to be on the receving end of the litigation. A Lake Forest, IL-based company called Advanced Audio Devices has just filed patent infringement suit against them, alleging that the iPod violates their patent for a "Music Jukebox". The Chicago Tribune's report on the suit is painfully thin on all the juicy details we crave (like what exactly it is about the iPod that violates Advanced Audio Device's patent), but a quick search of the USPTO's database reveals that AAD were indeed granted a patent on July 1st of 2003 for a "music jukebox which is configured for storing a music library therein" that "includes a housing, audio input structure on the housing for receiving audio signals, audio output structure on the housing for outputting audio signals, and a data storage structure in the housing for storing audio signals." (Which sounds like a pretty broad patent.) Apple has yet to issue a response.
[Thanks, transgeek]
