On Monday Burst.com, a company
that develops software that helps companies speed up the delivery of audio and
video files, announced that it had filed a countersuit against Apple Computer
claiming that the iTunes software, the iPod, and the Quicktime streaming
software all infringe on patents held by Burst.
The lawsuit, filed in federal
court in San Francisco
on Monday, came after Apple had filed for a declaratory judgment in January.
The company was involved in a similar patent infringement dispute with
Microsoft last year, which ended with a $60 million settlement along with a
Microsoft license to the Burst technology.
Over the past year the two
companies have held discussions regarding the patents but never came to any
licensing agreement. In January Apple stated that they do not believe the
patents are valid.
Three of the four patents
involved in the lawsuit are the same as the ones involved in the Microsoft
suit, Richard Lang, co-founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Burst.