Bose reportedly suing Beats over noise-canceling headphone technology

July 27, 2014

Looks like there might be a little bit of legal trouble for Beats and ultimately, Apple in the next little while. A new report coming out of CNBC and backed up by PriorSmart shows Bose has filed legal suit against Beats and is looking to assert five different patents against the organization. The patents in question revolve around noise-canceling technology used in Beats.

8,073,151: "Dynamically configurable ANR filter block topology" by Joho et. al.. Includes 30 claims (2 indep.). Was application 12/430,994. Granted 12/6/2011.
8,073,150: "Dynamically configurable ANR signal processing topology" by Joho et. al.. Includes 24 claims (2 indep.). Was application 12/430,990. Granted 12/6/2011.
6,717,537: "Method and apparatus for minimizing latency in digital signal processing systems" by Fang et. al. Prosecuted by Thelen Reid & Priest LLP Robbins; Steven J.. Includes 19 claims (3 indep.). Was application 10/179,930. Granted 4/6/2004.
8,345,888: "Digital high frequency phase compensation" by Carreras et. al.. Includes 16 claims (3 indep.). Was application 12/750,309. Granted 1/1/2013.
8,054,992: "High frequency compensating" by Sapiejewski.. Includes 23 claims (6 indep.). Was application 11/409,894. Granted 11/8/2011.

The Apple and Beats deal has not fully closed yet and is expected to be completed in September pending approval, so the timing on this filing is all rather interesting. Bose's legal filings likely won't have any effect on the deal but unless this gets solved out of court, we could be seeing yet another lengthy court battle starting to unfold.

Source: PriorSmart, CNBC