The NY Times is reporting that Google, Apple, and Napster are all being sued over patent issues. Who’s behind the big lawsuit? Intertainer Inc.. This lawsuit looks like it’s going to be a nasty one; a lawsuit that the technology industry has never seen before.
Intertainer’s tale is somewhat different than other intellectual property suits brought by technology licensing firms. By 2002 the company seemed to have a growing business, with 125,000 Internet subscribers for its servers and 35,000 TV subscribers through the Comcast cable system.
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The company holds nine patents, including United States Patent No. 6,925,469, which was issued in 2005 and is intended to cover the management and distribution of digital media from various suppliers.
So what. So they’ve held these patents for this long, why the sudden lawsuit against all the major players in the industry? With Google-owned YouTube.com, Apple’s Video iPod at stake, and this is as close to what I’ve seen for Napster’s involvement for the video industry, what is Intertainer Inc. actually trying to get out of this?
Intertainer must have some major backing financially in order to even attempt to take on these major corporations. It’s going to be a big feat and might possibly take years to resolve. We’ll keep posted on the updates as this lawsuit progresses.
