Apple just won a major legal battle against ContentGuard Holdings over DRM-related patent infringement.
The California-based tech giant won the lawsuit on Friday, Nov. 20.
ContentGuard Holdings, a subsidiary of Pendrell Corp., accused Apple for the infringement of five anti-piracy patents. ContentGuard said that Apple used DRM technology illegally in its digital content distrbution services.
Apple was accused of using DRM-related patents owned by ContentGuad with its iTunes and iBooks applications – platforms that distribute DRM-protected songs, movies, TV shows, and books.
However, Apple said that the claims were baseless.
The trial was held at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The jury decided that Apple did not infringe five anti-piracy patents and no damages were awarded to ContentGuard Holdings.
According to Reuters, Samuel Baxter, an attorney for ContentGuard, said they are disappointed by the outcome and evaluating options.
ContentGuard also sued Samsung Electronics Co and Google Inc over infringing its anti-piracy patents – used to restrict content to only approved users. However, the two companies were cleared of infringing the patents.
ContentGuard was created as a result of a DRM business partnership between Microsoft and Xerox in 2000. It is now owned by Pendrell and Time Warner.
