Bose Sues Beats for Patent Infringement Over Noise-Cancelling Headphones

MacRumors · Jul 25, 2014

Bose today filed a lawsuit against Beats Electronics, accusing Beats of infringing on a number of patents related to noise cancellation and other audio technologies (via TechCrunch). The lawsuit accuses Beats Studio and Studio Wireless branded headphones, which advertise "Adaptive Noise Cancellation," of violating five separate Bose patents in the United States.

In the filing, Bose points towards the 50 years of research, engineering, and development of noise cancellation techniques that went into the creation of its QuietComfort line of noise-cancelling headphones, which use the technology Beats has allegedly stolen.

Beats has been accused of infringing on the following five U.S. patents, which pertain to various noice-cancelling techniques:

No. 6,717,537 - "Method and apparatus for minimizing latency in digital signal processing systems"
No. 8,073,150 - "Dynamically configurable ANR signal processing topology"
No. 8,073,151 - "Dynamically configurable ANR filter block topology"
No. 8,054,992 - "High frequency compensating"
No. 8,345,888 - "Digital high frequency phase compensation"

The lawsuit asks for an injunction that prevents Beats from continuing to produce products that infringe on Bose patents and it requests a damages award for using the company's technology. Bose has also filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission, seeking a sales ban on the Beats products that violate its patents.

Bose's infringement lawsuit against Beats is set to become Apple's problem as the company's purchase of Beats is expected to close this quarter. Apple initially announced its $3 billion acquisition of the headphone manufacturer in May. Apple is currently embroiled in a number of lawsuits, including an ongoing dispute with Samsung Electronics and several class action suits brought against it by former employees.

Article Link: Bose Sues Beats for Patent Infringement Over Noise-Cancelling Headphones

ghostlines · Jul 25, 2014

All of a sudden...

iLoveiTunes · Jul 25, 2014

Woah... that's nasty (as if they were waiting for a certain event

)

nepalisherpa · Jul 25, 2014

Beats is getting beaten!

nfl46 · Jul 25, 2014

Hilarious! They waited until Apple bought Beats.

chirpie · Jul 25, 2014

I'm just gonna leave this one right here...

http://www.audioholics.com/news/blue-jeans-strikes-back

shrfu31 · Jul 25, 2014

Weasels are attracted to big piles of cash.

I am surprised it took them this long actually.

Dilster3k · Jul 25, 2014

Huh rocking a pair of QC15's right now...

But yeah many headphone companies are after Bose's great noise cancelling... great for marketing

rmatthewware · Jul 25, 2014

Fascinating that they wait until Beats is acquired by someone with deeper pockets. Good luck getting any money, though. If Bose ever gets a payout, it'll be ten years down the road. And the general impression I get from people who work in the speaker business is that Bose isn't really that good.

Stridder44 · Jul 25, 2014

One crappy headphone company suing another crappy headphone company

Moopy Sac · Jul 25, 2014

It's ridiculous that these companies can sue for these vague patents which cover things like "design," "look" or "feel."

bearboy · Jul 25, 2014

Oh no, here comes the Apple/Beats apologists!

gjvon · Jul 25, 2014

rmatthewware said:
Fascinating that they wait until Beats is acquired by someone with deeper pockets. Good luck getting any money, though. If Bose ever gets a payout, it'll be ten years down the road. And the general impression I get from people who work in the speaker business is that Bose isn't really that good.

Okay, this is just ignorance.

JoEw · Jul 25, 2014

Coincidence right as the Apple deal is about to close?

Moopy Sac · Jul 25, 2014

rmatthewware said:
Fascinating that they wait until Beats is acquired by someone with deeper pockets. Good luck getting any money, though. If Bose ever gets a payout, it'll be ten years down the road. And the general impression I get from people who work in the speaker business is that Bose isn't really that good.

Headphone quality does not seem to have much of a positive correlation with company value.

But Bose is still head and shoulders better than Beats.

sk1wbw · Jul 25, 2014

I got even money that says none of you could tell the difference between a pair of Bose and a pair of Beats headsets blindfolded.

Noctilux.95 · Jul 25, 2014

Humans should get together and sue Beats and Bose for ear damaging noise.

DavidLeblond · Jul 25, 2014

Bose felt threatened. For the longest time they were the #1 name in expensive sub par audio equipment until Dre came around and took the crown.

gjvon · Jul 25, 2014

sk1wbw said:
I got even money that says none of you could tell the difference between a pair of Bose and a pair of Beats headsets blindfolded.

Sadly true. I could though. BOSE is a brilliant balance. And the Noise cancelling is still the absolute best to date.

Kissaragi · Jul 25, 2014

Bose probably should have done this before Apples team of battle hardened patent lawyers were backing Beats up....

IJ Reilly · Jul 25, 2014

Active noise canceling has been used in aviation headsets made by any number of companies for decades now. I wonder if or how Bose is separating the technology used in consumer headsets from the other implementations.

AdonisSMU · Jul 25, 2014

Moopy Sac said:
Headphone quality does not seem to have much of a positive correlation with company value.

But Bose is still head and shoulders better than Beats.

As a Bose headphones owner, I'm going to have to disagree. The only reason I use Bose is because I like their in ear inserts better than beats. That's it.

gjvon · Jul 25, 2014

IJ Reilly said:
Active noise canceling has been used in aviation headsets made by any number of companies for decades now. I wonder if or how Bose is separating the technology used in consumer headsets from the other implementations.

Seeing that we are not audio engineers, we have no say in what WE believe is right and wrong regarding the matter. I am sure an Engineer could tell when someone has copied their blueprint.

Moopy Sac · Jul 25, 2014

sk1wbw said:
I got even money that says none of you could tell the difference between a pair of Bose and a pair of Beats headsets blindfolded.

Or those $25 Sonys.

Moopy Sac · Jul 25, 2014

AdonisSMU said:
As a Bose headphones owner, I'm going to have to disagree. The only reason I use Bose is because I like their in ear inserts better than beats. That's it.

I don't own either because you can get the same or better for a fraction of the cost (except Bose probably does have the best noise cancelling, but probably not worth four times the price of something with 90% of the noise cancelling/sound quality). But Bose has much better balance and Beats has $30 worth of bass.

On both you are paying for the symbol on the side.

Bose Sues Beats for Patent Infringement Over Noise-Cancelling Headphones

macrumors bot

macrumors regular

macrumors 6502

macrumors 68020

macrumors G3

macrumors 6502a

macrumors newbie

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 6502

macrumors 68040

macrumors member

macrumors member

macrumors member

macrumors 68000

macrumors member

Suspended

macrumors 6502a

macrumors 68020

macrumors member

macrumors 68020

macrumors P6

macrumors 604

macrumors member

macrumors member

macrumors member

Our Staff