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Apple, SanDisk, and Samsung sued by Texas MP3

It's not like Apple, SanDisk, and Samsung haven't waded through their fair share of lawsuits in the past, and this most certainly isn't the first (nor the last, sadly) patent troll story you'll ever hear of, but a presumably off-kilter (and incredibly desperate) individual has filed a suit claiming that he masterminded the MP3 player. The current company, dubbed Texas MP3 Technologies, filed a currently ungranted patent application the very day before the suits were filed, but tried a little trickery by linking back to two previous patents -- one held by SigmaTel and the other by MPMan -- in order to force the giants to pay their dues. If you're suddenly scratching your noggin' over that last company, you'll probably recall that it actually was (loosely) deemed the first producer of an MP3 player, but considering that this latest company "shares a street address with one of its lawyers" in the patent lawsuit capital of the world Marshall, Texas, practically every ounce of credibility that might've been held just flew the coop. C'mon Texas, we all thought those "obvious patent laws" were going to be relaxed.

[Via TechDirt]