The ability to set up playlists on your iPod, iPhone or iPad has cost Apple a pretty penny over the weekend. It’s lost out to a company called Personal Audio in a patent lawsuit) that began back in 2009. While Personal Audio is a “non-practicing entity”, which means it hasn’t actually put its patent for downloadable navigatable playlists into practice, it still managed to win $8m in damages from Apple.
Apple denies that the iPod and iOS devices rely on the inventions detailed in the Personal Audio patent and presented 6300 pages of documents in an attempt to prove it. It’s not clear whether Apple will appeal but the $8m cost is minor compared to the $8.3bn in sales the iPod division brought in last year.
Out now | £NA | Apple (via Ars Technica)
