THX Lawsuit: Did Apple Join the Dark Side?

THX, a sound technology company originally started by Star Wars creator George Lucas, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) that claims the Cupertino-based company is using speaker technology that THX patented in 2008.

Per the complaint filed March 14 in U.S. District Court, the plaintiff is seeking “damages in an amount adequate to compensate THX for Apple’s infringement, consisting of, inter alia, THX’s lost profits, but in any event at least a reasonable royalty.”

THX claims that Apple has infringed on its U.S. Patent No. 7,433,483, which is described in the patent abstract as, “a narrow profile speaker unit” that “may be integral with or attached to electronic appliances such as desktop computers or flatscreen devices.”

The filed complaint specifically names the offending products as the “iPhone 4 and later models, as well as its iPad, and iMac products, which incorporate narrow-profile speaker units that output sound through a duct or aperture having a narrow dimension.”