iTunes patent suit settled

Apple has reached a pre-trial settlement on undisclosed terms

Apple has reached a settlement with a Vermont firm that claimed that Apple’s iTunes music software infringes their patent.

Court documents show that the patent owner, Mr David Contois, sued Apple in the U.S. District Court of Vermont in June 2005, accusing the company of infringing U.S. Patent No. 5, 864, 868 filed in February 1996 and relating to a computer system and method for controlling a media playing device.

According to this original court complaint, Mr Contois believed current or future Apple employees were in attendance when he first demonstrated his invention at a technology trade show in November 1996.

The case settled on 21 August 1996 only after a number of pre-trial hearings.