American audio equipment firm Bose Corporation has filed a lawsuit against high-end headphone company Beats Electronics for allegedly illegally using Bose's noise-cancelling technology.

Bose stated in a lawsuit filed in federal court that it was not the first time Beats has infringed on its patents.

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The Framingham-based company shared that it has sent Beats several warnings about patent violations in the past.

In the said lawsuit and FTC complaint, Bose is asking that Beats be prevented from importing headphones that contain 36 of Bose's patents.

Like Bose, Beats products are manufactured in China.

The lawsuit presented includes the history of Bose's noise-cancelling technology, beginning from when deceased founder Amar Bose thought up the innovation.

In 1978, Amar Bose was said to have been on a flight from Zurich to Boston when he discovered that the headphones supplied by the airline, which promised new fidelity benefits, were extremely disappointing.

Although the headphones were said to produce great sound quality, the cabin noise overcame the quality and, the audio would get distorted whenever the volume was increased.

Bose then formulated a basic concept for headphones that produced high fidelity speech and music while at the same time, reducing cabin noise.

When Bose returned to the US, he immediately formed a research group to work on his concept.

The technology that resulted from 50-years worth of extensive research into Bose's concept became known as "active noise reduction," or ANR.

Officers from the military were the first users of the said technology.

In 2000, the QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones were sold to consumers. From then on, other models with the same concept have followed.

Beats was "formally established in 2008" according to its company website.

A spokesman for Beats has yet to release a statement regarding the allegations and lawsuit.

Should Bose win the lawsuit, Apple will be required to pay Bose for all of the company's court fees, and surrender the sales of the sold Beats headphones that used the patented technology.

TagsBose, Beats