SOURCE: Burst.com, Inc.

 

SANTA ROSA, CA--(Marketwire - November 21, 2007) - Burst.com, Inc. (OTC: BRST), today announced today that it has signed an agreement in principle to settle its case against Apple, Inc. ending almost 2 years of litigation. Apple agreed to pay Burst a one-time payment of $10 million cash in exchange for a non-exclusive license to Burst's patent portfolio, not including one issued U.S. patent and 3 pending U.S. patent applications related to new DVR technology. Burst agreed not to sue Apple for any future infringement of the DVR patent and any patents that might issue from the pending DVR-related applications.

The $10 million patent license provides Apple with the right to use Burst's intellectual property in its own technology and products, without further consideration. Burst, however, retains the right to enforce its patent portfolio against others.

Burst plans to continue identifying and evaluating companies who represent licensing opportunities and intends to diligently pursue those likely to yield suitable returns. Burst does not plan to announce specific names of suspected infringing products or companies in advance of negotiating with them or filing litigation to enforce its patent rights. Burst does not plan to publicly release any internal assessments of market segment size or dollar value of those markets, although it believes that they are significant enough to warrant the aggressive pursuit of patent licensing.

Court costs, expenses and attorney's fees in connection with the settlement of the litigation with Apple will reduce proceeds to the Company to approximately $4.6 million. According to the agreement, payment to Burst is to be made promptly after signing of a definitive settlement agreement. Burst's Board of Directors has indicated that it will be considering a cash distribution to Burst's shareholders from the Apple license fee, in an amount to be determined.

The company will not be further publicly addressing issues or answering questions regarding subjects that the Company's Board of Directors has not yet adequately addressed or resolved, or regarding subject matter that the company's legal counsel has advised is either privileged in nature, or should not be discussed for strategic or other reasons. As the Board and management make further determinations regarding the matters discussed in this Release and other matters involving the Company's future operations, the Company may, at its discretion, make further announcements to all shareholders and will also post those announcements on the Company's web site.

This Press Release may contain forward-looking statements similar to those covered by the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We believe that the expectations expressed herein, regarding the new license of our technology with Apple, our use of the funds from this license, our intent to review possible further enforcement of our patents against other companies and our intent to develop and sustain new operations are based on reasonable assumptions. However, these forward-looking statements are subject to numerous uncertainties and risks and actual results and developments could differ materially from these expectations. Factors which could affect our operations and prospects include the costs and uncertainties of pursuing complicated litigation, the effect our license with Microsoft and Apple will have on other companies utilizing our technology and in our market and our ability to pursue new or additional operating strategies. We are not responsible for updating any such forward-looking statements.

About Burst

Founded in 1988, burst.com has pioneered the development of Faster-Than-Real-Time™ video and audio delivery. burst.com has built an international patent portfolio covering burst-mode video delivery, scheduling, rapid casting and network optimization, as well as DVR-related technology.