Apple Gained Control of Contois "iTunes" Patent in Recent Settlement, Lawyer Claims

In June 2005, David C. Contois sued Apple over the design and implementation of iTunes and the iTunes Music Store claiming that he had been issued a patent for it in 1999 from a 1996 application as we previously noted. Apple and Contois settled the suit late this past summer but its terms were not disclosed.

Now Michael Starkweather, the attorney who originally wrote the patent for Mr. Contois, is claiming in his own press release that the settlement will affect

"...the future of the whole cell phone, iPod and PDA industry. That's the billion dollar patent." Starkweather said. "I believe that, with this patent in hand, Apple will eventually be after every phone company, film maker, computer maker and video producer to pay royalties on every download of not just music but also movies and videos."

Here is the interface design from Mr. Contois' patent.

It looks very similar to iTunes. However, the patent is broader than just the design. It consists of three components: remote music storage, selecting music to download and playing music on a music device. Here is the abstracted description of his patent 5,864,868:

A computer system and method for controlling a media playing device. The system provides a user interface for allowing a user access to media pieces stored in a media database. The interface is also for controlling a media playing device, like a player piano or movie playing video device, that is coupled to the computer to play the accessed or selected piece of media. In one embodiment there is a computer interface that allows a user to display only music that relates to a selected category, like jazz or classical music. Another embodiment allows the user to direct the media playing device to automatically play selected music pieces that are related to a selected music category. Another embodiment allows a user to direct the media playing device to automatically play selected music pieces that are related to the selected music composer or artist.

Apple has not commented on whether or not it will seek royalties from other digital music services or digital music player manufacturers, not to mention manufacturers of cell phones and PDAs as referenced by Mr. Starkweather. [Bill Fox]