A U.S. District Judge said Friday that the $8 million in damages Apple has to pay to patent licensing company Personal Audio for violations of a playlist patent from the iPod covers “past and future use of the technology” and should extend to the iPhone and iPad, reports “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com).
Las month Apple was ordered by the U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas, to pay damages to Personal Audio for patent infringement. Personal Audio, a patent licensing company with an office in Beaumont, Texas, sued Apple in 2009 for US$84 million in damages, claiming infringement of two patents for downloadable playlists. The Texas jury agreed that the patents were infringed.
However, District Judge Ron Clark ruled that Apple’s $8 million in damages would provide a license for products not specifically named in the original complaint.
— Dennis Sellers
