A South African inventor, Benjamin Grobler, has today instituted legal proceedings against Apple’s iTunes and Sony’s PlayStation Network in California, alleging that both have infringed his patent.

Grobler claims that both companies have violated U.S. Patent No. 6,799,084, which deals with a data vending system, “…a data depot for storing one or more data types selected from the group consisting of digitized music, analog music, video, games, information, and computer programs.”

His patent, which was awarded in 2004, also concerns itself with ensuring that copyright infringement does not take place and also that users can re-access lost data through the use of a “…uniquely identifiable recordable data carrier.”

Grobler is asking the court to grant a permanent injunction against Apple and an accounting of all damages from the company. No specifics of Grobler’s claims against Sony’s PSN have been made available.

Source: PC World