Andre Yoskowitz
8 Jul 2007 18:44
According to two new lawsuits filed against Apple this week, the company "knowingly infringed on copyrights", including the copyright of an artistic photographer and a song written in 1979.
Apple TV's most popular advertisement is a so-called "video wall", which consists of alot of small videos playing simultaneously while an Apple TV unit is in the middle. Louis Psihoyos, the artistic photographer, believes the video wall is too similar to one of his photographs to be coincidence and therefore the lawsuit was filed.
Apparently, Apple and Psihoyos had been in negotiations to use the concept but the agreement was never made. The lawsuit goes on to say that Apple then stole the concept instead of developing a new one. Psihoyos also argues that he never made one cent from any of Apple's profits from the Apple TV.
The second suit, a civil complaint, accuses iTunes as being "an acting catalyst for music infringement." According to the suit, Avril Lavigne's 2007 hit "Girlfriend" is based almost completely on the 1979 song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" by James Gangwer and Tommy Dunbar. The artists believe that any company that publishes or sells the new song is infringing on the original song.
Source:
DailyTech