“Sometimes there is as much news in the timing of an announcement as there is in the announcement, itself. That is probably the case with this week’s legal settlement between Burst.com and Apple, which was announced late Wednesday night on the eve of the Thanksgiving holiday,” Robert X. Cringely writes for PBS.
“I think the timing was intended to bury the story, which will be five days old by the time the major news organizations are back to work,” Cringely writes.
“Then there is the peculiar detail of the settlement that Apple’s license specifically excludes one issued and three pending Burst patents on digital video recorder (DVR) technology, yet Burst promises not to sue Apple for infringing these patents for which it is specifically NOT giving Cupertino a license,” Cringely writes. “How odd is that? Isn’t saying you won’t sue someone for infringing the same as giving a license?”
“The elephant in the room here is TiVo. If Burst plans to vigorously pursue licensing these DVR patents and the company continues to follow its tendency to sue the strongest party in each market segment, then TiVo is next and the Apple settlement was adjusted a bit to make that potential litigation easier,” Cringely writes.
“The settlement and Burst’s announcement are so odd that I am sure something — perhaps a great deal — has been deliberately left unsaid,” Cringely writes.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Linux Guy And Mac Prodigal Son” for the heads up.]