A Texas-based patent licensing agency, Texas MP3 Technologies, alleges that Apple, as well as Samsung and SanDisk, are infringing on U.S. patent 7,065,417. This patent was originally awarded to SigmaTel, the former iPod chipmaker, in June 2006. Claims in this patent would cover "an MPEG portable sound reproducing system and a method for reproducing sound data compressed using the MPEG method". A really general claim, which could be considered by some courts as too broad to be granted.
It currently remains also unclear how this patent originally owned by SigmaTel arrived in Texas MP3 Technologies hands. Maybe Thomson and the Fraunhofer Institute, owners of MP3 rights, could also sue this Texas-agency for having MP3 in its business name; or for claiming right on MPEG while they could probably only be granted for a specific hardware allowing to play MPEG layer.
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