Apple blame focuses on App Store titles

Walker Digital has filed its second round of technology industry lawsuits in less than a month, court documents show. The new campaign revolves around US Patent 6,263,505, System and Method for Supplying Supplemental Information for Video Programs. The patent explains a way of synchronizing separate audio or video with a live or recorded program.

Targets this time include Apple, Digimarc, Disney, Nielsen, The Weather Channel and TV Aura Mobile. Apple's involvement is particularly significant, as it is blamed for third-party apps hosted on the App Store, such as From the Edge and Grey's Anatomy Sync. The apps can "receive a request from a viewer for supplemental information related to a video program (such as photos, behind the scenes video and/or character information), receive synchronization information relating to the video program, process the request for supplemental information, and transmit the synchronized supplemental information using the synchronization information," according to Walker.

The firm claims to have suffered "severe and irreparable harm," and is seeking both damage payments and an injunction. The company continues to pursue an earlier group of lawsuits against over 100 companies, including major corporations such as Apple, Sony, Facebook, Microsoft and Google. Aside from an increased number of defendants, the lawsuits cover 15 different patents.

by MacNN Staff