Rovi, previously known as Macrovision, have sued IMDb and its parent company, Amazon, for violating some of its patents. Rovi acquired the patents through their buy-up of Gemstar. The patents cover a wide range of features, including “interactive program guides” and “purchasing products on-demand to scheduling recordings from a computer”. Which means they might just as well sue Apple (iTunes), Microsoft (Xbox) and TiVo, and a whole bunch of other companies which have products that infringe on the patents.

However, Rovi claims that it has already struck a deal with Apple, among other, on licensing the patents. We’ll see how this one ends.