Apple Fined $8M In IPod Playlist Patent Suit

Yes, I know… another Apple lawsuit. This one is a bit different from the rest, though, because Apple actually lost. Well, sort of.

In 2009, a company called Personal Audio sued Apple for $84 million. Personal Audio claimed Apple infringed upon two of its patents – one called ”Audio Program Player Including a Dynamic Program Selection Controller,” and one called ”Audio Program Distribution and Playback System.”

The patents describe an audio player than “can receive navigable playlists and can skip forward or backward through the downloaded list.” Apple claimed that it was not using the inventions patented by Personal Audio, but a federal jury in Texas disagreed and ordered Apple to pay out $8 million in damages to Personal Audio.

Though, $8 million is nothing to a company that has over $60 billion in cash reserves, and it’s also a far cry from the $84 million that Personal Audio was seeking.

Florian Mueller, a patent expert at FOSS Patents, went on record as saying that Apple has “little incentive to appeal this decision.” Though, if past legal battles with Apple have taught me anything, we haven’t heard the last of this.

What do you guys think about this? Should Personal Audio have been awarded more money? Less? Do you even care? Let me know in the comments below

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