Ok, Apple is backing away from DRM. The public is starting to clamor more against DRM. And here we have a company going, no one wants to use us, so we’re going to sue those companies that spurned us and force them to pay us royalties.

Media Rights Technologies (MRT), developers of technology that prevents users from ripping digital media streams, has filed a Cease and Desist letter against Apple and other companies. The organization claims that Apple and others are responsible for violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and intellectual property law.

MRT claims that Vista, Adobe Flash Player, Real Player, iTunes and the iPod have been produced “without regard for the DMCA or the rights of American Intellectual Property owners.” The DMCA, signed into law in 1998, makes it illegal to manufacture products that are designed to circumvent copy protection. Accordingly, MRT has filed Cease and Desist letters against Apple, Microsoft, Adobe and Real to stop production or sale of products that infringe on the DMCA.

MRT’s X1 SeCure Recording Control has proven effective against stream ripping, the company said in a statement, and these companies have been “actively avoiding the use of MRT’s technologies.”

“Together these four companies are responsible for 98 percent of the media players in the marketplace; CNN, NPR, Clear Channel, MySpace Yahoo and YouTube all use these infringing devices to distribute copyrighted works. We will hold the responsible parties accountable. The time of suing John Doe is over,” said MRT CEO Hank Risan.

An MRT spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment as Playlist posted this article.

[Yahoo! News]

I can’t wait for the judge to have this come across his docket, and throw it out of court. Perhaps with a counter lawsuit against them for wasting their time.