Two US headphone giants Bose and the soon to be Apple owned Beats are set to face a US Court after Bose claimed that Beats Electronics infringed on patents related to its noise-cancelling technology.
Recently Apple agreed to acquire Beats for $3 billion now the Company is facing a lengthy fight with Bose claiming that noise cancelling technology built into the heads headphones is based around their patents.
Bose filed the lawsuit on Friday in U.S. District Court in Delaware, saying that Beats had infringed on five of its patents pertaining to its noise-cancelling headphones. Bose also filed a complaint to the U.S. International Trade Commission, seeking to halt the sale and import of certain Beats products.
In the lawsuit, Bose asks for damages and an injunction against Beats.
“We are committed to protecting our investment, protecting our customers, and defending the patents we own,” a Bose spokeswoman said in a statement. Spokespeople for Beats and Apple declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The complaint doesn’t affect the closing of the Apple deal scheduled for September, according to one person familiar with the matter.
Apple agreed to acquire Beats – the biggest deal in the company’s history – with an eye toward adding Beats Music, a subscription-based, streaming music service, to its audio offerings. Apple has made no secret that it is mainly interested in the streaming music service, and not the headphone and music accessory business.
However, the headphone business accounted for all of Beats’ $1.3 billion in revenue in 2013, according to people familiar with the matter.
Bose said it has been working on noise-cancelling technology since 1978 and started selling noise-cancelling headsets to consumers in 2000.
Bose said Beats has infringed on its patents in its “Studio” and “Studio Wireless” line-up of headphones. Those headphones, which sell for $335 and $379, in Australia, offer “Adaptive Noise Cancellation,” that Beats says helps consumers “put the world on mute.”
