WASHINGTON (Bloomberg) - Apple Inc., maker of the iPod music player, lost a bid to have a judge throw out a patent-infringement lawsuit by Burst.com Inc. over technology that stores audio and video files.

US District Judge Marilyn Patel in San Francisco yesterday upheld some elements of Burst.com's patents for receiving, storing and transmitting audio and video files and invalidated others. The case is scheduled to go to trial in February.

Burst.com, a three-employee company that lost $533,000 last year, claims inventions by its founder, Richard Lang, are at the heart of the iPod and that Apple owes it millions in royalties. Apple argued that the patents are invalid because Burst.com combined inventions of others, called prior art, and said they were new.

"Of the 36 claims, the court has found 14 invalid and 22 claims remain alive and will go to the jury," said Spencer Hosie, Burst.com's attorney, in a telephone interview. "Of the 22 that remain, they reach core Apple functionality and products, including the Mac computer and the iPod."

The claims that remain deal more with video then audio technologies, Mr. Hosie said.

Cupertino, California-based Apple spokeswoman Susan Lundgren declined to comment. Matthew Powers, Apple's lawyer in the case, did not return a message seeking comment.

Burst.com, based in Santa Rosa, California, provides software for broadcasting audio and video over the Internet.

The company settled a lawsuit over the same patents with Microsoft in 2005, with the world's biggest producer of computer software agreeing to pay $60 million.

IPod shipments rose 17 percent in the fourth quarter, from 8.73 million in the same a year earlier, the company said on October 22. Sales of the device, along with music sold through Apple's iTunes stores, climbed to $2.22 billion and accounted for 36 percent of total company revenue.

Apple fell $10.83 to $175.47 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Burst.com fell $1.01 to 43 cents in over-the-counter trading.