Tags: Apple

Apple get sued for the iTunes interface

Contois Music & Technology is a company based in the Vermont state of the US and they have just sued the Macintosh maker Apple for their iTunes Digital Music Online Store. They claim that the iTunes store break their patents and have done “irreparably” damages to their company. They are asking for preliminary and permanent injunction and have claimed unspecified damages.

Contois also say that the action on part of Apple was willful and this should result in massive damage claims for them from Apple. Apple on their part has not responded to this latest lawsuit on their one of the most profitable venture currently. Contois is said to have sent a notice to the company as earlier as September 2004 and claims that the company knew about their patents since a long time. Yet, they continued with their efforts with the iTunes music store.

The company says that their owner David Contois showed off the concept of a computer interface for a music playing application way back at the Comdex 1995 event and later at another show in 1996. Apple seems to have stolen that concept for their iTunes. This is not the first time Apple finds itself in legal hassles regarding their music store. Earlier, Virgin had complained to the European regulators for Apple’s refusal to let open its FairPlay digital-rights management technology to other competitors.

More trouble were in store for Apple as they had to settle a patent claim with E-Data over the Apple Music Store. Even the great musicians The Beatles had an issue with Apple using their trademark in the music industry.