Apple on Wednesday ended two years of litigation between itself and Burst.com by agreeing to pay a one-time $10 million fee to get non-exclusive access to the company's portfolio - with some exceptions including three pending patents relating to DVR technology. In exchange, Burst has agreed not to sue Apple for any future infringement of current or pending patents that have not been shared between the two companies.
Burst alleged that Apple infringed four patents for transmission of compressed audio and video files in iTunes, iLife, QuickTime and the iPod. All in all, Apple got off lightly as compared to its rival Microsoft, which in 2005 ended up paying $60 million to Burst in order to settle a patent dispute regarding Windows Media Player's transmission of music and video.