Jury Finds Apple Did Not Infringe Live Video Streaming Patent

On Friday, a federal jury found Apple did not infringe on Emblaze’s, an Israeli company, live video streaming patents.

The Cupertino-based company was accused of pushing app developers to use its proprietary HLS (HTTP Live Streaming) technology for streaming live video to iOS devices. The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California’s verdict means Apple avoided penalty after being accused of infringing U.S. Patent No. 6,389,473.

The patent was originally granted to Emblaze about ten years before the introduction of HLS. The jury also found that ABC News, MLB at Bat, and WatchESPN did not meet the criteria for infringement.

Mark Fowler, a lawyer for Apple, argued to a federal jury at the outset of trial in San Jose, California, that Emblaze was an example of a failed company targeting the iPhone-maker due to its success.

Emblaze manufactured and sold audio products, and attempted to sell its technology to wireless carriers and then phone companies, failing each time, Fowler argued. Fowler failed to convince jurors that Emblaze’s patent is invalid, though they agreed with him that none of the seven accused streaming services infringe it.

The Israeli company first sued Apple in 2010 over their proprietary version of HLS, which has been used to stream live video to iOS devices since the introduction of iOS 3.

[via Bloomberg]