Contois sought damages and an injunction against Apple for the infringement of the existing patent. The last word of the suit came in September, when after a 15-hour negotiating session, a settlement was reached but remained confidential:
"We're glad to get back to teaching music and selling musical instruments," said Dan Contois, a brother of David Contois, who works in the 35-year-old family-owned business. "The terms are confidential. We can't discuss them."
Interestingly, the patent lawyer involved in the case issued a press release today commenting about the implications of this patent and suggests that Apple has control of it.
The patent covers the system and methods for allowing users download media from a remote database and playing on a a local device -- essentially the methods for purchasing songs online. According to Starkweather:
"I believe that, with this patent in hand, Apple will eventually be after every phone company, film maker, computer maker and video producer to pay royalties on every download of not just music but also movies and videos.
It is now late July, and that means the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are less than two months away. The devices are expected to look similar to the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, but there will still be many year-over-year changes, with rumored features including a smaller Dynamic Island, 5G via satellite, and more.
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 18 Pro, iPhone 18 Pro...
Apple's first high-end MacBook redesign in five years is expected to arrive in the near future, bringing a run of firsts to the Mac.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the laptop to arrive between late 2026 and early 2027, with the later window now looking more likely owing to the global memory chip shortage. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects mass production to begin by late 2026.
Apple last...
Thursday July 23, 2026 8:26 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple's iPhone 18 Pro models and its first foldable are less than two months from being unveiled. That may sound like a reason to sit tight if you're looking to upgrade from an iPhone 16 or older series, but between looming price hikes and Apple's new split-launch calendar, there's a decent case for grabbing an iPhone 17 series model right now. Here are five reasons in favor of putting your order ...
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a ~5.5-inch outer display and a ~7.8-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.
