Apple saw a rare instance of a direct loss in a patent dispute Friday after Eastern Texas District Court Judge Clark issued a ruling that it should pay $8 million for allegedly violating patents. Personal Audio won the one-time payment of damages after the court determined that Apple's support for downloading playlists on the iPod and iPhone had violated two generic patents, one for an "audio program player including a dynamic program selection controller" and another for an "audio program distribution and playback system." The amount was ten times smaller than the
