Apple Settles AirPods Patent Dispute With Koss to Avoid Trial
Apple has settled an AirPods-related patent infringement lawsuit with audio manufacturer Koss, according to a court filing submitted on Saturday that was highlighted by Reuters. Koss had accused Apple of infringing on its wireless headphone technology patents with AirPods and Beats products.
Koss said that AirPods and Beats wireless headphones violated a handful of patents related to wireless headphone technology, which Koss claims to have pioneered. When Koss first filed the lawsuit in 2020 the company said that Apple was aware of its patents and that they met on several occasions to discuss using them.
Apple ultimately opted not to license any Koss technology, leading Koss to sue and demand an unspecified amount of damages for the alleged infringement. After Koss levied a lawsuit at Apple, Apple countersued and said that the allegations were "baseless," the patents were invalid, and that the lawsuit itself broke a 2017 confidentiality agreement that said Koss would bring no litigation against Apple.
Apple and Koss were set to go to trial today, but the two companies on Saturday said they had resolved the allegations that Apple infringed on Koss' wireless audio patents. As a result, the case was dismissed.
There are no details on the settlement at this time, but the filing indicates that "all matters in controversy" have been resolved. Koss has also sued other headphone brands that include Bose and Skullcandy, and those lawsuits are still pending.
Related Stories
Apple today filed a patent infringement lawsuit against AliveCor, a company that has developed the ECG "KardiaBand" designed for the Apple Watch, among other ECG-focused products. AliveCor and Apple are already in the midst of a legal battle following an ITC complaint and antitrust lawsuit that AliveCor filed last year
According to Apple, AliveCor's product line has not been successful with...
Apple was granted 2,541 patents in the United States last year, surpassed by only six other companies, IFI Claims reports.
In its rankings of the top 50 U.S. patent assignees in 2021 (via Patently Apple), IFI Claims Patent Services shows that Apple was granted 250 fewer patents in 2021 compared to the previous year, a nine percent decrease. Even so, Apple moved one place up the rankings in...
Apple has been granted a patent that could well hint at a new design direction for the controversial Smart Case that comes with Apple's AirPods Max (via Patently Apple).
When Apple unveiled its $549 high-end AirPods Max headphones last year, the included Smart Case stirred up plenty of online chatter for its odd appearance and poor overall protection when compared to the traditional hard...
Apple has filed for and published a total 248 automobile-related patents since 2000, according to research conducted by Japanese news site Nikkei and Tokyo analytics firm Intellectual Property Landscape.
Patents cover self-driving technology, riding comfort, seats, suspensions, navigation, battery management, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) connectivity for car-to-car communication, and more....
Telecom giant Ericsson has filed another set of patent infringement lawsuits against Apple in a long-running dispute between the two companies over royalty payments for the use of 5G wireless patents in iPhones.
In 2021, both companies sued each other in the US after negotiations failed over the renewal of a seven-year licensing contract for telecom patents covering 2G, 3G, and 4G...
Apple and its supplier Broadcom today convinced a U.S. appeals court to reject a jury verdict that required them to pay $1.1 billion for infringing on Wi-Fi patents that belong to the California Institute of Technology (via Reuters).
In 2016, Caltech accused Apple and Broadcom of infringing on its patents related to the Wi-Fi technology used in many Apple devices. Caltech's patents, granted...
Apple has lost a bid to dismiss an antitrust lawsuit filed against it by Jay Freeman, creator of an alternative App Store known as Cydia for "jailbroken" iPhones and iPads. Freeman sued Apple in late 2020, alleging that Apple has an illegal monopoly over iOS app distribution through the App Store. His complaint also alleged that Apple has "consistently tried to snuff out alternative app...
Apple this week settled a lawsuit with Simon Lancaster, a former employee accused of using his position within the company to steal "sensitive trade secret information" that was provided to a tech journalist.
According to The Verge, Lancaster will pay an undisclosed amount of money to Apple and will avoid discussing engineering data, confidential business information, and data about...
Popular Stories
iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max, and iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max models feature a LiDAR Scanner next to the rear camera that can be used to measure a person's height instantly in Apple's preinstalled Measure app.
To measure a person's height, simply open the Measure app, point your iPhone at the person you want to measure, and make sure they are visible on the screen from...
Apple in late October began testing iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 updates, providing betas to both developers and public beta testers. As of now, we've had four total betas, with the fourth beta having been released earlier this week. iOS 16.2 and iPadOS 16.2 are expected before the end of the year, and we thought we'd try to narrow down the launch timeline.
With only four betas released since...
The next-generation MacBook Pro models could feature faster RAM, according to a recent report from a reliable source.
MacRumors Forums member "Amethyst," who accurately revealed details about the Mac Studio and Studio Display before those products were announced, recently provided information about Apple's upcoming 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. The new machines are expected to feature...
Apple plans to publicly release iOS 16.2 for the iPhone in mid-December, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The update remains in beta testing for now, with at least eight new features and changes already uncovered so far.
iOS 16.2 introduces a number of new features, including Apple's new whiteboard app Freeform, two new Lock Screen widgets for Sleep and Medications, the ability to hide...
Mass shipments of Apple's long-rumored AR/VR headset may be delayed until the second half of 2023 due to unspecified "software-related issues," according to the latest information shared today by tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
Apple headset render by Ian Zelbo Kuo said mass shipments of components for the headset are still likely to begin in the first half of 2023, but he believes that mass...
With the launch of iOS 16.1, Apple rolled out a Emergency SOS via Satellite, which is designed to allow iPhone 14 owners to contact emergency services using satellite connectivity when no cellular or WiFi connection is available. The feature was put to the test in Alaska today, when a man became stranded in a rural area. In the early hours of the morning on December 1, Alaska State Troopers ...
While we're still around nine months away from Apple unveiling the iPhone 15 lineup, rumors already suggest that the higher-end Pro models will have even more exclusive features than usual compared to the standard models next year.
There are currently at least five features rumored to be exclusive to iPhone 15 Pro models:A17 chip: iPhone 15 Pro models will be equipped with an A17 Bionic...
With Black Friday and Cyber Week shopping events winding down and the calendar flipping over to December, our attention is starting to turn to 2023 and all of the Apple news we're expecting to see.
This week saw an alleged benchmark leak for an "M2 Max" chip expected to make an appearance in upcoming Macs like the MacBook Pro early next year, as well as fresh rumors about the iPhone 15...
Google is continuing on with its attempt to convince Apple to adopt the RCS messaging standard, publishing a new "it's time for RCS" blog post. Promoted heavily by Google, RCS or Rich Communication Services is a messaging standard that is designed to replace the current SMS messaging standard.
It provides support for higher resolution photos and videos, audio messages, and bigger file sizes, ...
Due to production issues at Apple supplier factories in China, the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max are backordered and basically out of stock at every store. If you were planning to gift or receive an iPhone 14 Pro model for the holidays and didn't already get one, you're basically out of luck because they're gone until late December.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Top Rated Comments
Apple discusses using another company's patent in a new product, but has them sign a no-lawsuit agreement under the guise of calling it a "confidentiality agreement".
Then Apple uses the patents anyway, making the all too familiar "the patents are invalid so we're not paying" claim.
Then countersues when the patent holder says "I think not" and sues Apple for infringement.
Then settles once they realize the patents are in fact valid, and Apple could be on the hook for more if a jury decides and awards triple damages for willful infringement plus attorney's fees to Koss.
Use tech without paying for patents. Wait to see if anyone notices and if you get sued, deal with it then.