After nearly a year of back-and-forth attacks from Blockbuster and Neflix, the lawsuit battle regarding DVD rentals over the Internet is finally over. According to an SEC filing by Blockbuster, the terms of the settlement between the two are confidential, but "the parties have agreed to secure dismissal of all claims in the litigation."
In August of 2003, Netflix applied for a business patent to cover its online DVD rental model, a year and a half before Blockbuster launched its own online rental service. When the patent was awarded to Netflix in April of 2006, the company was quick to sue Blockbuster for patent infringement. Netflix argued that Blockbuster was aware of the pending patent application when it "willfully and deliberately" launched its own copycat service. Blockbuster promptly filed a countersuit against Netflix, accusing the company of attempting to monopolize online rentals and saying Netflix's claims were preposterous and that there was "nothing original about renting movies or subscription rental programs."
News source: Ars Technica
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