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Amazon is coming under legal fire for the Kindle again, this time at the hands of a corporate giant: Discovery Communications. Discovery, who operates one of the largest cable networks in the U.S., alleges that Amazon is infringing upon patents they own, ones filed as far back as 1999. In particular, they claim that the Kindle and Kindle 2 infringe on a patent involving, of all things, copy protection for electronics books.

Some of the claims are pretty interesting, if not far-fetched. For instance, Discovery claims that Amazon infringes upon their patent in several ways, including “operation of the Amazon.com website” to securely deliver electronic books. That's a pretty tall order, and I have a feeling that the courts will not be favoring Discovery in the days ahead. Still, the company isn't looking to keep the Kindle from being sold, but is intent on receiving monetary damages and a royalty to compensate it “for any future infringement” of the patent.