Jari Ketola
27 Apr 2001 15:47
InterTrust, a digital rights management company, sued Microsoft on Thursday, saying the Microsoft's Media Player infringes its patent rights.
InterTrust was awarded a patent for secure delivery and control of digital media files. The patent, which was awarded in February, contains 131 claims. After comparing the information Microsoft has provided about their digital rights management with their patent claims InterTrust decided that Microsoft was infringing the claims.
InterTrust is asking a federal court in Northern California District to issue an injunction against Microsofts infringing activities. They are also seeking monetary damages.
This could be a hard blow on the Microsoft Media Player and Microsoft's digital rights management schemes - something Microsoft has eagerly advertised as a huge advantage over e.g. MP3.