Apple Faced with iTunes, iPod Lawsuit

Apple got hit by yet another lawsuit, this time coming from ZapMedia Services that is upset with the Cupertino-based company for using the iPod-iTunes concept as if it was their own. ZapMedia claims it has invented the means of distributing media to user devices via a synced portal two years before the first iPod was released in the wild.

According to macnn.com, "until recently, ZapMedia Services held on to but a single patent, and now carries two." The first patent is entitled "System and method for distributing media assets to user devices via a portal synchronized by said user devices." It is only obvious Apple's iPods and iTunes reflect this very concept.

The second patent refers to "System and method for distributing media assets to user devices and managing user rights of the media assets," which resembles Apple's iTunes store structure in particular.

ZapMedia claims it met with Apple and discussed licensing. According to the "zappers," Apple dismissed the offer.

"Beginning in the late 1990s, ZapMedia, Inc., the predecessor of ZapMedia Services, created a unique platform and vision for the enjoyment of digital media assets. In connection with this vision, ZapMedia developed a system by which it could provide hardware, software and content to consumers to allow them to gain control over their digital media assets. To protect this intellectual property, ZapMedia has obtained U.S. Patent Numbers 7,020,704 and 7,343,414, each of which is entitled 'System and method for distributing media assets to user devices via a portal synchronized by said user devices,'" says ZapMedia Services.

"When someone takes our vision and our intellectual property without a license after several attempts, we have no option but to protect it through every means available to us," said ZapMedia's general counsel, Robert Frohwein.

ZapMedia suit claims that after filing for the first patent (October 2000), the company showed its idea to several major corporations, one of which was Apple. Damages are unspecified for the time being.

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