Apple, Napster and Google sued over video

Apple, Google and Napster have all been named in a video on demand (VoD) patent infringement suit - by a company that stopped offering such services several years ago.

Intertainer has filed a lawsuit against the three companies alleging they have infringed patents granted to the company in 2005 which pertain to distributing video and audio material over the internet.

Intertainer, which stopped selling video content over the web in 2002, is now seeking an injunction and damages from the three companies named in the lawsuit.

The company went out of business after filing an antitrust suit against rival VoD service Movielink, NBC Universal, Sony and Time Warner accusing them of fixing prices. The suit was later settled out of court.

Company founder Jonathan Taplin told The New York Times: "Intertainer was the leader of the idea of entertainment on demand over internet platforms before Google was even thought up."

Google recently created headlines in the video world with its purchase of YouTube.com, spending $1.65bn on the video-sharing start-up.

Unlike such online video services, full length movies and TV programmes on demand - Intertainer's previous business - remain a relatively small market. A recent report from analysts Informa Telecoms & Media predicts one-third of households will use VoD by 2010.

A spokeswoman for Apple said the company does not comment on pending litigation. Google and Napster did not respond to requests for comment on the case.