DRM Software Development Company Intertrust Files Lawsuit Against Apple for Patent Infringement

The Wall Street Journal reports that patent holding company Intertrust Technologies Corp. has filed suit against Apple, accusing the Cupertino-based company of infringing on 15 of Intertrust's patents related to "security and distributed trusted computing."

Intertrust invents and licenses technologies for digital rights management, currently holding more than 150 patents.

As posted on the company's website, the lawsuit involves multiple Apple products, including the iPhone, iPad, Mac computers and laptops, Apple TV and Apple services like iTunes, iCloud, and the App Store.

"Apple makes many great products that use Intertrust's inventions," said Talal Shamoon, Intertrust's chief executive officer. "Our patents are foundational to modern Internet security and trusted computing, and result from years of internal research and development. We are proud of our record of peaceful and constructive licensing with industry leaders. We find it regrettable that we are forced to seek Court assistance to resolve this matter."

Intertrust, which is backed by Sony Corp. and Royal Philips Electronics NV, successfully collected $440 million from Microsoft in 2004 after winning a patent infringement case against the company. On its licensees page, Intertrust lists major tech companies like Adobe, Samsung, Panasonic, LG, HTC, Nokia, and Motorola.