Apple Hit With Lawsuit Over HTTP Streaming Technology (Updated)

Israeli based company Emblaze is suing Apple for allegedly infringing on patents related to the company's HTTP Live Streaming feature in QuickTime. For those that have been in the industry for a long time, the name Emblaze might ring a bell as the company spent many years, dating all the way back to 1999, trying to get their Java based video technology to get adopted, with no luck.

Fast forward to 2005 when Emblaze became a holding company for a group of technology companies, including Emblaze Mobile, who's technology seems to be at the center of this lawsuit. For the past two years, Emblaze has been building the First Else smart phone which will be released through Emblaze's subsidiary company Else.

What's not known is exactly what technology Emblaze feels Apple is infringing on. No one from Emblaze has yet to respond to my request for more patent details and some have speculated that the patent has to do with a recently approved iPhone app, called Knocking, which allows for live video streaming over 3G from one device to another.

I'll update the post with the patent number in question as soon as I track it down. Updated: Thanks to a reader for providing the patent number, which is 6389473, and filed in March of 1999. Reading the filing, the patent seems pretty broad in terms of what it covers. Emblaze has said Apple has until December 15th to respond to the suit and as of the updating of this post, still has no from Emblaze has responded to my request for more info.