Company: Apple TV’s “what did she say” feature infringes our patent

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Patent claims the concept of skipping back and enabling subtitles.

It's a problem everyone has had: you're watching a movie and don't catch a key bit of dialogue. In September 2015, Apple unveiled a new feature for Apple TV that solves the problem. Users can ask "what did she say?" and Siri will skip back 15 seconds and temporarily enable captions.

But a Florida company says that it has patented this idea. The company, CustomPlay, filed a lawsuit on Thursday.

The patent, filed by CustomPlay CEO Max Abecassis, dates back to 1998. And it appears to exactly cover Apple's "What did she say" feature. It covers the concept of skipping back a predetermined number of seconds, enabling captions, playing the video, and then disabling captions after the replayed portion is complete.

CustomPlay says that it tried to contact Apple multiple times starting in 2014 to try to negotiate a license or business partnership, but Apple didn't respond.

CustomPlay makes companion apps designed to enhance users' movie-watching experience, and in the lawsuit the company says it's using the replay feature in its own products. The company's website lists a product called One Screen that includes the feature, but it does not yet appear to be available for purchase or download. We've contacted CustomPlay for clarification and will update if we hear back from them.