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]

[derek @ Feb 23rd 2007 5:39PM]

You are a dumb ass. If a couple people from Texas are suing for something stupid, that most mean we are full of a bunch of dumb cowboys. Wrong! Guess what, Dell is from Texas too! Are they dumb? No! Houston, one of the largest cities in the US is in Texas, now surly if we were full of dumb idiot cowboys, that would not be possible. Just because some stupid TV shows Texas full of idiots, doesn't mean we are.

[BooBoo @ Feb 23rd 2007 5:19PM]

Well, they say that everything in Texas is bigger.


I guess that means lies, too.......

[Mario Mejia @ Feb 23rd 2007 5:25PM]

the banhammer in 3....2....1....

i apologize! forgiveness please!!!

[Timothy Broyles @ Feb 23rd 2007 5:37PM]

@Mario Mejia

Why do you think everyone files suit in Marshall? They're some of the biggest morons there, makes for easy manipulation of the jury.

[Mario Mejia @ Feb 23rd 2007 5:45PM]

Was this (my comment)really the first time sarcasm was ever used on Engadget? Or are you guys just really over-sensitive to any sort of comments on your home State?

I dont think anyone with an iota of education would ever make such an over-generalization about an entire population, so please, give me a little bit of credit.

[Tom @ Feb 23rd 2007 6:17PM]

"Guess what, Dell is from Texas too! Are they dumb?"

I believe the correct answer is yes. Dell sucks.

The patent issue over the mp3 player will pan out, its a frivolous attempt (like most) to make money off of big companies that take advantage of smaller companies and people. While this is totally wrong, wasting time and money on lawsuits that will never succeed will not pay off. Instead, that time and money should be spent invested in coming up with a new idea and product that might actually have a chance at making money.

[Brian @ Feb 23rd 2007 5:44PM]

wake me up when everybody has "their fair share" of money...
I'm going to go live in a cave for a while.

[austin @ Feb 23rd 2007 5:51PM]

Marshall is preferred for its "combination of quick trials and plaintiff-friendly juries, many lawyers say," according to this article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/business/24ward.html?ei=5088&en=65001ada21beb03a&ex=1316750400&adxnnl=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1159244426-TZeEnYm9mAOhbIBMqeRjGQ

Docket schedule (actually getting a chance to hash things out) is a big thing, because all that time your bill for infringement is running. If you're not infringing, there's still a quell on production (for fear of infringement).

[Scott @ Feb 23rd 2007 8:19PM]

Which gives you...let me think about this for a second...a first class registered letter worth absolutely nothing.

Sarcasm aside, the whole "first class registered letter" thing is a big myth. It doesn't do you any good. At all.

[LJKelley @ Feb 24th 2007 1:00AM]

What did you expect after the idiot Judgement against Microsoft? I doubt this company or Lucent had any big deal it the mass adoption of Digital Music or MP3. The people that pushed the technology was really Napster, Apple (thru the iPod) and Microsoft.

http://www.startblue.net

[Joe @ Feb 24th 2007 3:52PM]

What a surprise that this kind of idiocy comes from the same state as our genius president.

[Jeff @ Feb 24th 2007 9:22PM]

If you don't know what an Eiger Labs MPMan is, you don't deserve to call yourself a geek.

I think it's manditory to have owned one of those and a Diamond Rio PMP300.

[Markus Diersbock @ Feb 24th 2007 9:47PM]

I was sued in Texas for a... ahhh... 'electronic trespassing'.

Texas is not a great place for an outsider to get sued -- Texas
jurys usually side with their own.

[Matt @ Feb 26th 2007 10:56AM]

There's a bit more to this story than reported... In 2005, SigmaTel consolidated all of the original MP3 player patents when they purchased Rio (they already had some of the MPMan patents). Last year, they sold the patents to a Dallas-based law firm (didn't want the negative publicity of prosecuting it themselves). That law firm is the one that's now suing for infringement. So this lawsuit is based on patents that really do form the foundation of today's DAPs. Have there been significant contributions to MP3 player technology since these inventions? Yes, of course. IMO, these patents don't justify a $1.5B judgment or anything. But a nominal royalty (say, $0.25-$0.50 per unit sold) is a reasonable price for the shoulders that the current technology stands on.