It's back to the courts for Apple's crack lawyer team again. InfoWorld reports that the Cupertino-based company is among those being sued by a little-known Texas firm for infringing on an mp3-related patent.

The suit by Texas MP3 Technologies, filed February 16 in Marshall, Texas, alleges that Apple, Samsung, and Sandisk are infringing on U.S. patent 7,065,417. The patent was awarded in June 2006 to former iPod chip maker SigmaTel, and covers "an MPEG portable sound reproducing system and a method for reproducing sound data compressed using the MPEG method."

According to InfoWorld, SigmaTel sold the patent to a Dallas-based patent licensing agency shortly after receiving rights because it felt the agency was better equipped to take advantage of its potential value. SigmaTel said it had retained international rights to the patent and has insulated its customers from any legal action associated with the patent.

InfoWorld said that it is still unclear whether Texas MP3 Technologies is the Dallas-based company that bought the patents from SigmaTel or whether it acquired them from somewhere else. In the lawsuit, Texas MP3 Technologies said that it is the "assignee of all rights" of the patent and holds "all rights of recovery."

You think college education is expensive? This single lesson costs Samsung a business contract worth millions. The lesson: Don't blurt out deals before signing on the dotted line! Here's the dish on that. Back in April, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. claimed they bagged a major MP3 chip design with Apple Computer Inc. The deal was described as a huge win for Samsung. What's wrong with that? Nothing except Apple, according to an analyst, has reportedly Â?punishedÂ? Samsung for its corporate blunder by maintaining its MP3 chip alliance with current chipmaker SigmaTel Inc.

Despite Samsung's bravado over the iPod chip business, SigmaTel managed to hold on to its key chip design within AppleÂ?s current and next-gen iPod Shuffle MP3 line. Currently, Apple uses SigmaTelÂ?s media processor chip for its current iPod Shuffle, their entry-level, flash-based MP3 player. Apple also uses PortalPlayer Inc.Â?s media processor chip for its current iPod Nano line. However, when signs that both SigmaTel and PortalPlayer lost the business at Apple, Samsung said the company won the MP3 media processor business for AppleÂ?s next-generation iPods. In fairness to Samsung there was "a good possibility that Samsung won both the [next-generation] Shuffle and Nano businesses,Â? but the South Korean company fumbled.

Â?It is not surprising that Apple would Â?punishÂ? Samsung for commenting publicly about its position within the iPod Nano follow-on, and we believe that SigmaTel is likely to be the resulting beneficiary of the Samsung executiveÂ?s gaffe,Â? said Craig Berger, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc. The business provides a much needed boost for the struggling SigmaTel. Apple is projected to ship some 7.4 million Shuffles in 2006. Memo to Samsung executives: Next time wait for the blood on the contract to dry.