ZapMedia, a U.S.-based company, filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. for allegedly using patented technology to distribute digital media over the Internet through its online iTunes Store. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas over a patent that was awarded to ZapMedia in 2006, for a media library database server application that manages access [to] a master library of media assets that can be accessed by users via one or more communication networks.

Apple allegedly violated not one, but two patents, both filed in 1999 and approved one in March 2006, and the second one approved on Tuesday.

"The complaint alleges that ZapMedia Services' property is being exploited in a manner which is unlawful," ZapMedia attorney Steven Hill of law firm Hill, Kertscher & Wharton said in a statement.

ZapMedia is reportedly seeking monetary compensation for Apple’s alleged actions to exploit their intellectual property in an unlawful manner. Besides money compensation, ZapMedia is also seeking for permanent injunction against Apple.

"When someone takes our vision and our intellectual property without a license after several attempts, we have no option but to protect it through every means available to us," Robert Frohwein, ZapMedia's general counsel, said in an official statement.