INTOUCH GETS AMAZON
IN TOUCH WITH LITIGATION

Because you reap what you sow, Amazon.com—a frequent patent-grabber of ubiquitous technology—is now named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by Intouch.

The suit claims that Amazon’s Web site infringes on patents that Intouch—a pioneer of in-store music listening kiosks—holds for what it says is its proprietary method of sampling music. Also named in the suit are Liquid Audio, Listen.com, Entertaindom and DiscoverMusic.com.

Intouch notified 33 companies that they infringe on its patents; some of the companies responded by opening negotiations to license the patents.

Intouch claims in the suit, filed March 31 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, that this infringement has caused irreparable harm to "lost market share during this critical period in the development of the Internet." The suit seeks unspecified damages from the various defendants, including legal fees.

Intouch is, naturally, running the risk of a countersuit by Clive Davis who invented the Internet.