Apple has asked a federal court to declare that its iPhones, iPads, AirPods and Beats headphones do not infringe three spatial audio patents owned by audio technology company Boomcloud 360.
Apple filed the complaint on Wednesday (August 5) in the US District Court for the Southern District of California, seeking a declaratory judgment of noninfringement of US Patent Nos. 10,313,820, 10,721,564 and 10,757,527.
The company is represented by law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and has demanded a jury trial.
Since January, Boomcloud has filed a series of patent infringement lawsuits against companies that sell or use Apple products.
Apple was not named as a defendant in any of those cases, but Boomcloud has pointed to Apple devices as infringing.
The features at issue are built into Apple‘s devices and its music service.
Apple Music rolled out Spatial Audio with support for Dolby Atmos in June 2021, offering it free to subscribers and playing it by default on AirPods and Beats headphones.
The company later began paying up to 10% higher royalties for tracks available in Spatial Audio, and said in early 2024 that over 90% of its listeners had experienced music in the format.
Apple Music raised its subscription prices worldwide on July 17, its first increase since 2022.
The three patents are owned by Boomcloud 360 and cover techniques for enhancing stereo audio and canceling crosstalk between speakers.
Each of the patents names Zachary Seldess of San Diego as an inventor, with the ‘564 patent also crediting James Tracey and Alan Kraemer.
The ‘820 patent, titled “Sub-Band Spatial Audio Enhancement,” issued in June 2019.
The ‘564 patent, “Subband Spatial and Crosstalk Cancellation for Audio Reporoduction [sic],” issued in July 2020, and the ‘527 patent, “Crosstalk Cancellation B-Chain,” issued in August 2020.
On January 30, 2026, Boomcloud sued AT&T and T-Mobile in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, accusing the carriers of infringing the three patents.
In infringement contentions served on March 19, Boomcloud alleged that the carriers infringe by selling Apple devices ranging from the iPhone 11 to the iPhone 17 and iPhone Air, along with various iPads, AirPods and Beats products.
Apple said Boomcloud‘s claim charts assert that its products “perform[] spatial audio processing” or “support ‘Spatialize Stereo.'”
On June 17, Boomcloud filed further lawsuits over the same patents against retailers Walmart, Target and Best Buy, again in the Eastern District of Texas.
Apple said those retailer suits did not name specific Apple products, but argued that “an actual and justiciable controversy exists between Apple and Boomcloud” based on the earlier contentions.
In its own complaint, which you can read here, Apple argues that its devices and audio features “do not directly or indirectly infringe any claim of the Patents-in-Suit, literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.”
Apple also pointed to Boomcloud‘s public website, which it said “suggests Boomcloud believes, and is representing to its visitors, that Boomcloud’s technology is incorporated in Apple products, including Beats headphones and AirPods products.”
The filing reproduced an image from the site carrying a CNN quote that read: “…with Beats headphones, the sound was off-the-charts awesome.”
Apple further cited Boomcloud‘s claim, made in its case against AT&T, that its “novel audio rendering solutions … have been licensed and implemented by several large companies, including … Qualcomm.”
In its complaint, Apple asked the court to declare that it does not infringe, induce infringement of, or contribute to infringement of the patents.
Apple also asked the court to find the case “exceptional” under US patent law and to award it its costs and attorneys’ fees.
Boomcloud 360, which is based in Encinitas, California, develops cloud-based audio enhancement technology for consumer devices including smartphones, headphones and speakers.
Its patents were prosecuted by law firm Fenwick & West, while the infringement suits have been handled by Russ August & Kabat, according to Apple‘s complaint.Music Business Worldwide