“AT&T has begun to name names in its hunt to license its MPEG video compression patents. AT&T possesses several patents related to video compression, which the company says are an essential component of the MPEG-4 video technology. In a bid to drive its global licensing program, AT&T has targeted Apple Computer, Inc., CyberLink Corp., DivX, Inc., InterVideo, Inc., and Sonic Solutions as unlicensed companies whose products and software utilize the MPEG-4 technology,” Bary Alyssa Johnson and Mark Hachman report for PC Magazine. “AT&T has also contacted national retailers that distribute products from the companies listed above, to let them know that they may be held liable for infringement.”
Johnson and Hachman report, “All of the companies named in the letter are involved with the editing, processing, or playback of video. With its video-enabled iPod, Apple is a high-profile target. ‘This is all standard stuff, the only thing that makes it sexy is the fact that Video iPods [and similar products] are now very popular,’ said Greg Aharonian, editor of the Internet Patent News Service. ‘So if any of those companies are using this technology, they may have a problem.'”
Full article here.
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it’s one thing to sue, it’s another to prevail.
AT&T was recently acquired by SBC. Perhaps the lawyers having been going through the store room to see where they can get some extra cash?
Which is kinda ironic since SBS was built from AT&T spinoffs.
How the mighty have fallen!
rft b nm ‘pk v yh mmmmmmmmme8mmmmmmm b
SBS=SBC. I think my freudian slip is showing
Aaaaaaagh I must make money. I must find some bull#*it to sue Apple over…
“Never heard of AT&T. Yet another parasite wanting blood for another companie’s success.”
So true. This “corporation” is probably just a P.O. box somewhere in Idaho. I mean, what of any consequence did THEY ever invent?? Apple’s been around for 30 years, and these newcomers come along and act all important.
[/idiocy]
I vaguely recall Apple delayed release of one of their QT releases due to delays over negotiating the license for MPEG4 with the MPEG-LA association. Eventually, they paid over a million or something like that for their license. If anything, ATT should take it up with MPEG-LA, not Apple.
AT&T’s claim is bogus. That it comes after the success of Apple’s new video iPod clearly shows their motivation, namely, envy. AT&T’s infringement claim will amount to nothing since MP4 is a non-proprietary ISO/IEC standard. Another reason AT&T will fail is that the MP4 file format is based on the QuickTime® format from Apple Computer Inc.!
I’m a longtime shareholder of both T and AAPL. My investment in AAPL has soared, but T has languished for the better part of the past decade.
T has really fallen from grace. The original “Ma Bell” was the default investment of “widows and orphans” for the better part of a century. But it was forced by the government in 1984 to break up and divest itself of local phone service (hence the baby bells), to being caught up in the dot.com mania, and then the cable and fiber optic mania, to being stuck in a declining market (long distance voice telephony), to being reacquired by one of its children…
Thing is, T used to own Unix (heck, Bell Labs invented Unix in the 1970s), and even back then T was known for its difficult licensing terms (along with Adobe and its PostScript technology).
Lawyers: Gotta love them. Somethings never change. Sigh…
All they have to do is inform the “infringing companies” that they are infringing, if indeed they are, and ask them nicely to buy a license. Going after those companies’ customers with scare tactics and threats of legal action is nothing other than a legal form (i guess) of blackmail and extortion. When the mafia does this its called racketeering or extortion. How the mighty AT&T has fallen. End of an era, folks. Time for a moment of silence.
Actually, given the tactic, it really sounds like AT&T doesn’t have a case, and they know it (otherwise they wouldn’t be trying a “protection” scam on resellers).
MW: Common, as in common sense (or lack thereof).
ATT has great DSL tho.. i have it… 1.5 down/384 up for only $12.99 a month