Over the weekend it became known that Texas MP3 Technologies plans to take on Apple, Samsung Electronics, and Sandisk with a patent-infringement lawsuit filed on February 16 in Marshall, Texas. In the complaint, Texas MP3 Technologies alleges infringement on U.S. patent number 7,065,417, which was awarded in June 2006 to multimedia chip-maker SigmaTel and covers "an MPEG portable sound reproducing system and a method for reproducing sound data compressed using the MPEG method." Just over a month later SigmaTel said that it had sold the patent to a Dallas-based patent licensing agency because "we believe it will be difficult to design around these patents and have a commercially viable player". SigmaTel said it had retained international rights to the patent and has insulated its customers from any legal action associated with the patent. Whether Texas MP3 Technologies, which is asking for a jury trial, is the Dallas-based company that bought the patents from SigmaTel or whether it acquired them from somewhere else is unclear. It should be noted that in the complaint, Texas MP3 Technologies listed an address in Marshall, Texas.
Link: Forum Discussion
News source: InfoWorld
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