News

MP3 format gets people sued for billions

· by

MP3 format gets people sued for billions
1.5 billion, to be exact. Microsoft was ordered by a judge in San Diego to pay out that amount to Alcatel-Lucent. Microsoft did pay licensing fees to Fraunhofer, who developed the MP3 compression format, but presumably Alcatel's involvement in the development process entitles them to a fee based on every Windows PC sold. The case will undoubtedly be appealed until doomsday.
Another company has staked some claim on the format. Sigmatel, according to Digital Music News, owns patent 7,065,417, which has spurred them to sue Apple, Samsung and SanDisk.
This is not the first or last dispute over the world's favorite sound compression scheme. There are a number of other technologies out there free from licensing concerns. Apple has promoted AAC, a codec that sports better sound quality than MP3. Ogg Vorbis has long been touted by the geek set as a superior scheme that's open source. Of course getting new standards on board is always difficult; you'll get Ogg Vorbis with your Linux workstation but outside of iRiver not many digital players support it. AAC has a bit more headway, being supported by iPod's, Zune's, and the Rhapsody E200R flash player, but unfortunately these patents are so broad either codec may be seen as infringing on them.
  ·  
Tags
MP3
Music Tech

"owns patent 7,065,417".Cripes. I'm listening to music on a Zune right now actually.

Dave Park

Forums

More Forum Posts...

Latest Comments

    Recommended

    Contests

    More Contests...