New technologies open the door to new patent infringement issues, and e-book readers are no exception. 

Discovery Patent Holdings, the intellectual property subsidiary of Discovery Communications, has filed two suits in as many years claiming that Amazon.com Inc. has infringed on patents when creating its popular line of Kindle e-book readers.

Discovery Patent Holdings filed its first suit in March 2009, alleging that Amazon.com infringed on its patents when creating the Kindle and Kindle 2 models of e-book readers. The second suit was filed in July 2010, alleging patent infringement in Amazon.com’s DX model of e-book reader. Both suits were fined in U.S. District Court, District of Delaware.

Discovery Patent Holdings is requesting royalty payments and damages, as well as a jury trial.  The case may also have relevance to other e-book readers, such as Nook.

Discovery Communications is the world’s larges nonfiction media company, operating more than 100 worldwide networks, such as Discovery Channel, TLC, and Animal Planet, as well as the Web sites Petfinder, HowStuffWords and TreeHugger. It also offers a range of consumer products through the chain of land-based and Web-based Discovery Stores.  Amazon.com Inc. is the largest online retailer in the United States.

SOURCE:
"Discovery Sues Amazon Again for Patent Infringement Over Kindle," July 15, 2010.  http://social-tech.findtechnews.net/2010/07/15/discovery-sues-amazon-again-for-patent-infringement-over-kindle/