Rockford Man Sues Microsoft Over Zune Technology

Lawsuit Over Two Patents

Dr. EDWARD YAVITZ, claims MICROSOFT illegally added his patented technology to the ZUNE media player after he tried to license it to MICROSOFT, reports THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER.

In his suit, YAVITZ, an opthomologist who owns the YAVITZ EYE CENTER in ROCKFORD, IL, says MICROSOFT "willingly infringed two of his patents that cover a method for quickly tagging and downloading music via a device's FM radio receiver."

THE POST-INTELLIGENCER notes that a "SEPTEMBER 2008 firmware update for the ZUNE let users buy music through the FM app, by tagging a song and downloading via wi-fi.

In his complaint, YAVITZ claims he sent MICROSOFT a letter in OCTOBER 2006 to explain to them the idea for the next ZUNE. His patents -- #s 6,463,649 and 6,473,792 -- were both filed in 2000 and granted in 2002.

[Are you a ZUNE owner? What about the product do you prefer over its competitors? Are you an iPOD fan? Why wouldn't you buy a ZUNE?]

« see more Net News