A Lawrence company that sells a gizmo for tuning drums says a guy who sells a smartphone app for tuning drums is violating its patent.

In a lawsuit filed last week in US District Court in Boston, Overtone Labs, which makes the Tune-bot, says Eric Rosebrock of Kissimmee, FL, knows full well that his iDrumTech Drum Tuner violates its drum tuner patent because the company originally shipped him one of them for a review on a YouTube channel Rosebrock runs - and because the company told him the technology was in the process of being patented.

The iDrumTech app has a "Tuning Calculator" feature, which allows users to calculate the target frequency for a particular drum based on various user inputs such as drum size and desired fundamental note. Upon information and belief, the target values output by the iDrumTech app were copied directly from values calculated by Overtone based on proprietary methods developed by Overtone for Tune-Bot users. Upon information and belief, Web Freaks appropriated these output values by using the Overtone tuning calculator, which Overtone makes available on its website at http://www.tune-bot.com/tuningcalculator.aspx.

Overtone wants Rosebrock to knock it off, plus lost profits, penalties and lawyers' fees.