AT&T claims MPEG-4 patent infringement, wants Apple to pay up

We already knew that between MPEG-LA, Via Licensing and others, MPEG-4 and the H.264 codec were already awash with patent holders and complicated royalty systems, but it looks like there's a new kid on the block that wants its share of Apple, CyberLink, DivX, InterVideo and Sonic Solutions pie. Fresh from its SBC merger, AT&T is going after the big iPod bucks claiming that the device infringes on their patents which they claim are "a core component of MPEG-4." AT&T claims that they're not just after the money and that they're looking to "make sure others are able to take advantage of this technology," but they also state: "what we're doing is pretty common among intellectual property holders," which isn't exactly comforting given the tech industry's history with such things.

[Via iLounge]

[narco @ Feb 10th 2006 12:13PM]

Why doesn't the patent office just blow up? Right after the RIAA.

Fishes,
narco.

[G-ZUS @ Feb 10th 2006 12:27PM]

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[Jesus @ Feb 10th 2006 12:37PM]

Fuck AT&T

[TZK @ Feb 10th 2006 12:42PM]

Interesting, seeing as AT&T dosnt make players or hardware.

I guess.

[G-Zues @ Feb 10th 2006 12:44PM]

This is funny. I wonder if this has anything to do with Cingular patenting macros for displaying emoticons.

Hahahahah!!!

[Alcaron @ Feb 10th 2006 12:46PM]

"what we're doing is pretty common among intellectual property holders,"

I hope that was his response to the question: "What is wrong with what you are doing?"

Somehow, I doubt it was though. :(

[JinKazama @ Feb 10th 2006 12:47PM]

They're suing more than apple but it just amazes me that nobody wants to enforce their patents until somebody starts making millions off of it.

[epp_b @ Feb 10th 2006 12:49PM]

I hate Apple and all of their iCrap, but I hate AT&T just a bit more now.

[Banana-man @ Feb 10th 2006 1:01PM]

Greedy bastards!!

[Rob @ Feb 10th 2006 1:05PM]

Anybody know why there is such a loose definition of intellectual property? if you know the anwser then you know a funny joke

[Malfoy Roark @ Feb 10th 2006 1:08PM]

Kids, kids. You think its bad now, just wait till the day that IBM starts having financial problems(which most likely will never happen). If they ever decide to start collecting on all their IP portfolio, o man, its gonna get messy.

[Lewis @ Feb 10th 2006 1:14PM]

I wonder why it took them so long to make a claim to all the royalties they are "due". I'm sure that they knew it was coming out and would know what it would do.

[Dustin Tarditi @ Feb 10th 2006 1:20PM]

Al Gore invented the internet - where are all of his royalties?

[shaka999 @ Feb 10th 2006 1:23PM]

If your trying to make the big bucks on your IP it makes sense to wait until a product is successful before dropping the bomb. Why kill a product before it takes off?

I'm not saying I agree with how the USPTO works but as it stands AT&T probably planned things out and knew exactly when they would file the claim.

[[e-mail] @ Feb 10th 2006 1:56PM]

"Why doesn't the patent office just blow up"

Because the Patent Office protects start up businesses and their Intellectual Property. You are a moron.

[Brian Stuckey @ Feb 10th 2006 2:17PM]

Don�t forget, SBC just purchased AT&T. Maybe they were looking through their portfolio and found an easy way to make some cash. G-Zues, your joke about the emoticons may be more right than you think � SBC owns Cingular.

[kyle @ Feb 10th 2006 2:25PM]

narco wins the thread

[Fuzz @ Feb 10th 2006 2:43PM]

That'll teach Apple for using non-Apple formats!

Seriously though, stuff like this just makes companies like Apple and Sony more likely to screw consumers by using their own formats so they don't get stuck with crap like this.

[raulr @ Feb 10th 2006 2:47PM]

They are only going after Apple now because they just started infringing on their IP. Remember the video iPod hasn't been out that long.

AT&T has actually been persuing licensing agreement for a little while with these companies. They have already signed deals with Nero and Pentax last year.

[MavLink @ Feb 10th 2006 2:48PM]

"16. Don�t forget, SBC just purchased AT&T. Maybe they were looking through their portfolio and found an easy way to make some cash. G-Zues, your joke about the emoticons may be more right than you think � SBC owns Cingular."

If I'm not mistaken, didn't SBC actually purchase AT&T Wireless, which is actually a separate entity from regular AT&T? Correct me if I'm wrong on that.

[Brian @ Feb 10th 2006 3:06PM]

Isn't there a law on how long you have to defend a Patent before it becomes public domain?

[steve @ Feb 10th 2006 3:27PM]

AT&T way back when did serious work in the area. Most of the people are gone to places like Apple and Microsoft. I wonder if they (SBC - o - AT&T) still have any people working in the area.

I wonder what industrial R&D would be like if you had to show you are still working in an area to keep a patent going:-)

[DJ @ Feb 10th 2006 3:29PM]

It's a sign of the coming apocalypse! By the end of the month, you won't be able to get your e-mail from Blackberry, listen to music or watch porn on your iPod or get coffee at Starbucks. Why Starbucks you ask? Because I just decided that I invented the coffee bean and I want a 92% royalty on everything they sell. On Monday, I plan to trademark the french fry....watch out Mickey D.....

OK, more seriously, is this all these companies can find to do with all of their lawyers?

[DJ @ Feb 10th 2006 3:33PM]

#18 - Actually, Cingular (60% owned by SBC, 40% by BellSouth) bought AT&T Wireless and changed the name to Cingular. Then SBC bought AT&T and changed THEIR name to AT&T. Word on the street is that sometime this year, the Cingular name will change BACK to AT&T Wireless.... Hey, it keeps printers, ad agencies and sign makers in business.

[Perrey Z. @ Feb 10th 2006 5:13PM]

Funny and odd but i haven't read a single comment in here pro AT&T. Only how Apple has become the victim of every other company. In case you don't want to realized, They tend to step on ALOT of other people's propietary inventions and then have the balls to sue the original owners back!

One of these days they are going to claim they have already patented Gloss White as a color for Laptops, desktops, and monitors., Then later, much later when they ran out of lawsuit ideas they'll claim the rights to modern style design on overprice crap... oh, wait! they already do that.

[J. Bunting @ Feb 10th 2006 5:40PM]

sounds like at&t needs to uh....have another merger. they clearly have too much time.

[Kevin Duvall @ Feb 10th 2006 8:06PM]

I can see it now. Apple gonna try to stop the sale of iTunes phones to Cingular. Motorola will not let them because the SLVR is finally making money. Motorola and AT&T will bring up patent infringements like crazy towards Apple. Apple will switch to Verizon. Oh, what a interesting sight?

[kev @ Feb 10th 2006 9:46PM]

The real winners in this are the patent lawyers, who are going to make a killing off this. This is a retarded argument that just shadows the good things about advancement and engineering.

[kev @ Feb 10th 2006 9:49PM]

#15 the patent office doesn't protect IP all the time--case in point, lots of source code that gets reproduced overseas for cheaper. Then again, you can patent anything and it will likely get processed with ZERO scrutiny. You call that useful? I call it a big mess, and it's more beneficial to those that can sit down, read case notes, and then become a lawyer for the very purpose of "protecting" patents.

Another thing about patents is that you make your product's description and the claims broad such that you protect it from the competition--in the end you might not even be describing the accomplishment you made. Patents are in this sense just allegations then. Garbage.

[kev @ Feb 10th 2006 9:57PM]

Follow-up to my comments:
Please note that my comments aren't in line with #1. I'm not one of Richard Stallman's minions. But I will say that the USPTO does suck but that we should not get rid of it--maybe just change the procedure that patents get accepted and a review of all of the patents. A lot of them are going to be removed anyway, so you might as well spend time caring.

This is America's future we're talking about here, do you want our economy to be substantially legal practices? Patent law has billions of dollars in it, and that's all because the USPTO is careless in selecting what goes in and what doesn't. What a waste, to be quite honest.

[jason @ Feb 11th 2006 10:36AM]

#26:

I was just thinking the same thing. Except apple doesn't need hello moto for anything. They prob would take the lost of some $$$ for breaking whatever contract they have just to prove a point. (i would)

[Max Watson @ Feb 12th 2006 9:46PM]

SBC/AT&T it the devil's monopoly, gaining powering more and more since the breakup in the early 80's. I'm hoping the government will split them up again. It's all like the story of an rpg, ya know?

[Pip @ Feb 13th 2006 9:49AM]

There really aren't that many video iPods out there yet. Most of the iPods in peoples hands are all the generations before those, so any money Apple might have to end up paying, will be minimal at best. But this will probably mean every iPod from here on out will be slightly more expense for the AT&T "fee" that will come out of this.