It appears that Apple Inc. will face an uphill battle in its patent litigation with Burst.com.
The court has issued a Markman Hearing which seems to side largely with the defendant, Burst.com. The Memorandum was made in a pre-trial hearing, it aims to allow the Court to focus on main details of the patents involved rather than getting caught up with technical language.
The 48-page (PDF Download) decision by the court was issued on Tuesday, and poses a threat to Apple's defence against an April 2006 countersuit by validating many of Burst.com's concerns over the patents in question, all four of which could cover both iTunes and the iPod.
A judge handling the case has found that around two thirds of Apple's argument made in this and past hearings would have created narrow definitions of key terms.
According to the judge Apple was limiting the patent's relevance to particular hardware methods when it applies much more. For example the case lists that Apple's interpretation for "editing means" is so precise that it insists only certain Intel, Motorola, and Texas chips would be valid for the patent.
On the other hand some interpretations favoured Apple such as the right to exclude auxiliary digital ports as transmitters, which could possibly affect the iPod Dock Connector.