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- Patent Dispute Goes After iTunes
It just wouldn't feel right getting through a month without another lawsuit. Apple is in the firing line this time from Online News Link, which claims Apple infringed on patent No. 7,508,789. Ah yes, good old 7,508,789: “the transmission of digital information through a broadcast channel and bi-directional channel.” Or something.
The complaint from California-based Online News Link specifically targets iTunes. The complaint, filed Oct. 8 in the Texas Eastern District Court, claims:
Defendant Apple infringes, either directly or indirectly, through its operation of iTunes and the email and Web-based products, systems, and services offered via iTunes.
Patent No. 7,508,789 describes a system that allows quick search and retrieval of broadcast information via the Internet. It was awarded to Online News Link as recently as March 24.
It's sometimes hard to know for sure what these complaints are really about, particularly since the descriptions in patents can often be so cumbersome and, too often, frustratingly generic. Here's an excerpt, courtesy of AppleInsider, of the patent description:
The amount of information delivered is preferably sufficient to satisfy the needs of a large number of subscribers so they do not have to obtain additional information using the bi-directional channel. The broadcast information is stored on fast storage media located at subscriber sites.
Well, to me, that sounds like every commercial online media service that's ever existed since the late ’90s. But what do I know?
Apple isn't alone, though, and enjoys some big-brand company in this new lawsuit. Online News Link's complaint claims some other very big players have committed the same egregious infringement. Dow Jones, Forbes, Morningstar and several others are listed defendants.
ONL adds in its complaint, ”Each Defendant has purposefully and voluntarily placed one or more of its infringing products, services, and systems into the stream of commerce,” while MacNN reports that ONL “is asking for a jury trial, with the aim of recouping costs and damages. Many such cases are settled out of court."
ONL's complaint adds:
Each Defendant has committed and continues to commit acts of patent infringement, directly and/or through agents and intermediaries, by offering for sale, selling, and distributing certain infringing products, services, and systems in Texas and, particularly, the Eastern District of Texas.
AppleInsider's Neil Hughes suggests the decision to file the suit in the Eastern District of Texas is of particular relevance, since "complainants often file [there] in hopes of a favorable outcome."
So, clever legal acumen? Or just very sneaky? I guess it depends on your point of view. I tried to find some information on Online News Link and found no official web site, no business description, just the company registry on the California Business Portal, and endless references to this complaint filing. But I won't say patent troll if you won't.
What was the big news that happened in your sector in Q3? Catch up with GigaOM Pro's, "Quarterly Wrap-ups."
Переслать - MobileMe Gets a Few Minor Updates…So What?
Unlike Google, Apple doesn't subscribe to the "Release Early, Iterate Often" model of software and service publishing. Even so, that's how things have turned out with MobileMe. On Friday, Apple published updates to its MobileMe News pages detailing improvements to the service.
"As part of an update to the MobileMe web applications, you can now access Find My iPhone directly from the MobileMe toolbar." Doesn't sound like much (and it isn't) but it's a nice touch that makes Find My iPhone easier to access. (Previously the feature was confusingly tucked-away in the MobileMe Settings page.) Also handy is the use of a new URL users can enter into a browser to go straight to the Find My iPhone functionality: me.com/findmyiphone.
The web-based Contacts has been tweaked to resolve a problem that occurred when exporting multiple contacts at once, but by far the most Update Love was lavished upon long-neglected iDisk.
The Apple knowledge base article lists the following updates and improvements to iDisk:
- New Public folder page located at http://public.me.com/membername now matches the look of me.com and supports drag and drop of files between folders (when enabled for visitors)
- Allowing visitors to upload, move, and delete files on your Public folder can now be set from www.me.com/idisk
- An iDisk Public folder password can now be set from www.me.com/idisk
- When logging in to a password-protected Public folder with a web browser, entering the generic username "public" is no longer required
- Adds ability to connect to another member's Public folder while viewing your own iDisk at me.com
I'm happy to see the addition to iDisk’s web interface of drag and drop functionality, but I have to confess it makes no difference to me at this stage. I simply don't use the web-based version of iDisk very much if I can help it – it's too slow, cumbersome and unpredictable. I've all too often found myself several-folder-levels deep into iDisk, digging around for a file or three, and suddenly discovered the interface has stopped responding to my clicks. Almost at the same instant I realize things have ground to a halt, the page automatically refreshes itself, dumping me back at my iDisk root folder. That’s frustrating. The language I use in those moments reflects just how frustrating.
In my experience, the poor performance and functional unpredictability of iDisk are the only things about it that are predictable. I don't know anyone who has had a better experience. Ah well. At least it looks better now.
I'm hardly bowled-over by these updates, but I appreciate they've been made. As a paying subscriber to MobileMe, it's nice to see that Apple remains committed to improving the service. At $99 a year for a single user licence it's not fabulously expensive, and while a lot of people feel it's still too pricey, it falls far short of the costs of most hosted Exchange servers. Apple touted MobileMe as "Exchange for the rest of us" and, while a shaky start didn't do the service any PR favors, I've been using MobileMe's over-the-air sync/push services from Day One with (mostly) satisfaction. Generally speaking, it works.
But I've stopped using iDisk because it's a joke. Stingy storage capacity and horribly slow, flaky performance means I learned long-ago to stop hoping for iDisk to be a dependable cloud-based data storage and sync solution. (Try saying that five times fast!) Today I use DropBox instead of iDisk. And while DropBox is quite ridiculously priced there's no arguing it's the no-brainer alternative to iDisk.
But, as they say, "Half of something is better than all of nothing" and I'm glad to see I'm getting some added value for my $99 membership fee. Even if I don't use it.
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