Apple recordsdata countersuit against stereo headphone inventor Koss
In context: In a circulation that looked plenty love patent trolling, Koss sued Apple for allegedly infringing on its patents with a few of its audio products. On the bogus hand, it’ll even dangle sabotaged its dangle lawsuit by virtue of an agreement between the 2 companies, which is why Apple has filed a countersuit and is unlikely to determine.
Final month, the firm that pioneered the stereo headphone sued Apple in the US District Court docket in Waco, Texas, alleging the Cupertino firm infringed on a minimum of five of its patents referring to wi-fi headphones and wi-fi connectivity. Koss took relate with AirPods, AirPods Pro, the Beats line of headphones, to boot to Apple Ogle and HomePod.
Apple is getting wait on at Koss with a six-point countersuit (spotted by Patently Apple) in the US District Court docket for the Northern District of California San Jose Division, where it argues that Koss’s claims don’t dangle any basis in actuality. One of the elements is especially harmful for Koss, because it entails a confidentiality agreement between the 2 companies.
Koss prototype wi-fi headphones from 2005
It seems to be, Koss and Apple representatives dangle met on a few times to focus on licensing the customary’s patents. Apple indirectly determined no longer to license any of them, nonetheless the 2 companies signed a confidentiality agreement on August 6, 2017, that supposed neither celebration also can use what used to be mentioned or the existence of those discussions “in a litigation or any varied administrative or courtroom continuing for any reason.”
This implies the lawsuit filed by Koss can be rendered needless in the shut to future, because the firm is in breach of contract and Apple says it has proof that it did now not infringe on any patents when designing its audio products.
For example, one among the patents invoked by Koss in its lawsuit describes the use of a processor for “upon activation of a user-defend an eye on of the headphone meeting, initiating transmission of a ask to the distant, network-connected server.” Apple explains that’s no longer the case with AirPods, which handiest keep in touch with a neighborhood tool they’ve been paired with.
On a varied count, Koss alleges it holds patents for the in-ear build that is customary in many wi-fi headphones, at the side of the AirPods Pro. It’s entirely likely that Koss intends to mosey after varied headphone producers nonetheless selected to center of attention on Apple since or no longer it is the wealthiest of the bunch. Koss is no longer is called a patent troll, and it did in actuality pioneer many technologies behind stereo headphones, so here’s an original circulation from a firm that is successfully-respected in the audio alternate.