In brief Apple has agreed to a US$10 million settlement with Burst.com over patents related to delivering video over the Internet.
Burst sued Apple in April of last year claiming that the iPod, iTunes, and QuickTime products all used technology patented by Burst without a licence. Burst's software enables "Faster-Than-Real-Time" video, which represents the technology that allows you to download a 30-minute TV show in less than 30 minutes.
Microsoft paid Burst US$60 million in 2005 for a license to the same patents. With this agreement, Apple gets a license to all of the patents in Burst's portfolio except for a DVR-related patent, as well as some DVR patents that are still in the application phase. Burst also agreed that it wouldn't sue Apple in the future for anything related to those patents.
Burst served notice that it wasn't done with litigation just yet. "Burst plans to continue identifying and evaluating companies who represent licensing opportunities and intends to diligently pursue those likely to yield suitable returns," the company said.
"those likely to yield suitable returns"
I guess that means they're not going after open source software then! :-)