Koss, the American company that created the first hi-fi stereo headphones, is suing Apple, accusing the AirPods maker of infringing five patents on wireless headphones. The claim is made against the AirPods and Beats wireless headphones.
Much of the court filing reads like an extended announcement of the company’s achievements, and specific claims suggest the company is making a rather ambitious move …
The lawsuit, discovered by Obviously Apple, includes a long section titled ‘The Koss Legacy of Audio Innovation’, which begins in 1958.
In 1958, John C. Koss invented the world’s first SP / 3 stereo as part of a “private listening system” that would allow the user to listen to a phonograph without disturbing others nearby.
The SP / 3 Stereophone provided, for the first time, a high-quality stereo headphone that approximated the sound of a concert hall.
John C. Koss demonstrated the SP / 3 Stereophone in a Wisconsin audio program in 1958. Initially designed to demonstrate the high-fidelity stereo sound offered by a portable phonograph player, these revolutionary Stereophones SP / 3 became the success of the Program.
Since then, the SP / 3 stereo has been consecrated in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, with John C. Koss delivering the SP / 3 for its consecration along with an explanation of the history of SP / 3 in 1972.
Koss goes on to claim that he invented wireless headphones in general, and true wireless headphones in particular.
Koss developed prototypes of in-ear headphones that were based on its chip development efforts, with functional prototypes from the mid-2000s that closely resemble commonly known consumer products that flood the market a decade and a half later.
The company also says it “developed (although ultimately did not market) a smart speaker” that included voice control of devices such as lights.
Apple, he says, made a “late foray into the wireless headphone space.”
The first of five specific claims appears to be arguing that Apple infringed a Koss patent on the underlying technology behind any wireless headset.
The ‘025 patent generally describes wireless headphones that comprise a transceiver circuit for receiving streaming audio from a data source, such as a digital audio player or a computer, over a wireless network. […]
The accused headphones have no substantial uses that do not infringe.
Additionally, he says Apple was aware of Koss’ patents, and he met several times to discuss them, before deciding not to license any of the company’s technologies.
Koss is claiming an unspecified amount “to compensate for such an infringement, which by law cannot be less than a reasonable royalty, along with interest and costs.”
The case could be interesting. Koss is not a patent troll (a company that buys other people’s patents with the specific intention of using them to make infringement claims): the company invented the technology itself and is a recognized pioneer in the field, from those early days stereo headphones forward. It remains a respected audio company today.
However, it is a fundamental principle of patent law that you can only patent the ‘how’ instead of the ‘what’, so it seems an exaggeration to claim that any wireless headset infringes on its patents. It is also likely that Koss chose Apple, rather than another headphone maker, as a high-profile target with deep pockets, so it could be argued that the company is acting quite troll.
You can read the full complaint here.
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