Apple, Google, Napster Sued Over Stores

A failed movie download service has taken Apple, Google and Napster to court, accusing them of violating patents for its digital entertainment platform. The technology covers methods to manage price and distribution of content.

Intertainer filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Friday. Altogether, the now-defunct service holds nine patents, although the lawsuit only involves the aforementioned patent, awarded to the company in 2005.

The movie service was first launched in the late 1990s, although it struggled to reach deals with the major movie studios. Following the studios push for Movielink in the early part of this decade, and slow growth, the company shut its doors in the fall of 2002.

A lawsuit was later filed, and an antitrust investigation launched against the movie studios by the Justice Department. That inquiry closed in 2004 without any evidence of wrongdoing, and the movie studios settled with Intertainer in March 2005, paying an undisclosed sum.

With no product now that the service has been shut down, Intertainer only exists as a patent holding firm. However, its board of directors appears ready to defend its rights moving forward.

According to the company's founder, Jonathan Taplin, the decision to sue was the company's own, and had nothing to do with any interest its initial backers Microsoft and Intel may have in the matter. Either company could see any of the three as threats to their own movie store projects.