The suit is reported to have been filed on Feb 16, in Marshall, Texas, a state known for quick judicial decisions that favor the plaintiff, although that in itself is no guarantee of victory.

The suit has been filed by Texas MP3 technologies which seems to have purchased the patent from SigmaTel through a Dallas licensing agency that bought it from Sandisk a month after the patent was granted. Sigmatel has supplied chipsets to Apple, although Apple have now switched to Samsung for their latest iPods. The patent covers "an MPEG portable sound reproducing system and a method for reproducing sound data compressed using the MPEG method."

Infoworld reports that Texas MP3 Technologies is asking for a jury trial.

Can Texas MP3 Technologies win this lawsuit? It’s very hard to say in cases concerning intellectual property of this nature which are sometimes ended by settlement to avoid greater penalties in court or simply lengthy court battles.

It’s simply the latest in a long line of patent lawsuits affecting many technology companies, not just Apple, although no doubt this latest lawsuit is keeping Apple’s lawyers as busy as ever.
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