The company now only consists of two people, according to press
reports, but it will seek to assert its patent rights in a Texas
court after filing an action on 29th December. It had applied for a
patent covering internet video distribution, and that was awarded
in 2005.
Intertainer was founded in 1996 to distribute films over the
internet and won investment from Sony, Microsoft and Intel. It
stopped that business in 2002.
The company holds nine patents, and the current action is based
on US patent number 6,925,469, which covers the distribution and
management of digital media files.
Intertainer is seeking an injuction and unspecified damages from
the three companies and it is thought likely that it will pursue
further suits if this one is successful. Intertainer founder
Jonathan Taplin told the New York Times that the company would now
begin a patent licensing business.
"Intertainer was the leader of the idea of entertainment on
demand over internet platforms before Google was even thought up,"
he said.
The choice of a Texas court is likely to have been influenced by
the reputation that some Texas courts have for handing out
patent-related judgments favourable to patent holders.
Intertainer did not file the application for the patent in
question until 2001, five years after the company was founded and
after some companies were already offering video and audio material
for download. That delay in filing could complicate the company's
claims.
Google owns YouTube, which leads the world in internet video.
The site offers short clips of often amateur-produced content for
viewing on computers and was bought by Google for shares worth
$1.65 billion last autumn.
Apple owns and operates iTunes, the world's biggest legal music
download service which is also moving into the business of selling
video downloads.
