The ProVideoCoalition reports this evening that the new Final Cut Pro isn’t just amazing, but that it’s slated for an April 12th launch date at the tenth annual SuperMeet at the Bally’s Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Rumors are flying that Apple will be using the Vegas Supermeet to announce the next version of Final Cut Pro. Supposedly, Apple will be taking over the entire event for their announcement, canceling all other sponsors, including AJA, Avid, Canon, BlackMagic, Autodesk and others, who were set to give presentations.

So far, ProVideoCoalition has confirmed that Canon, Avid, and Autodesk will not be presenting on the 12th. Avid reported that Supermeet canceled their sponsorship for the event, while Canon cancelled speaker Philip Bloom’s stage appearance. However, Bloom may make a guest appearance at the event.

Early in January, Hardmac proposed that Apple was testing a beta version of Final Cut Pro, and that it was slated for a late March or early April release date. In February, Techcrunch’s Alexia Tsotsis reported that video editors were visiting the Apple campus to get a preview of the new software.

Apparently Apple is still putting the finishing touches on “the biggest overhaul to Final Cut Pro since the original version was created over 10 years ago”and wanted pro user feedback. Emphasis on “pro.”

MacRumors quotes Final Cut author Larry Jordan, who writes on his blog:

I’ve Seen The New Version of Final Cut Pro… and it’s a jaw-dropper. Last week, Apple invited a few folks, including me, to a short meeting in Cupertino where they previewed the up-coming version of Final Cut Pro. While I am under NDA and can’t talk about what I saw, I CAN tell you the meeting happened and that it showcased the new Final Cut Pro.

Ripe with rumors pointing to an April launch, I’d expect the next iteration of Final Cut Pro to launch this month. The last time we saw any activity with Final Cut Pro was in 2009, and many are expecting dramatic interface changes to coincide with 64-bit support and the launch of Lion.

[via MacRumors]

Penalized 208.5 million for three patent violations, Apple wasn’t going to give up a fight for a few of the most prominent features of today’s OS X: Spotlight, Time Machine, and Cover Flow. On October 1st, 2010, a jury initially awarded $625.5 million to Mirror Worlds LLC in the Texas Eastern District Court (a court which has been scrutinized for appealing to patent trolls). However, the verdict was postponed by U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis – additional post trial arguments were slated to last until November to the dispute.

Computerworld: Apple asked Davis to delay his final ruling on the verdict, claiming that the award amounted to “triple dipping” because the jury penalized Apple $208.5 million for each of the three patent violations.

The case dates back to 2008, as Yale University professor David Gelernter (the founder of Mirror Worlds Technologies) accused Apple of infringing on patents revolving around data manipulation. Specifically, the claims against Cover Flow involved how documents, pictures, and media were displayed on a computer via the Finder and iTunes (the patents also applied to the iPod, iPhone, and iPad). Today it was decided that the patents do not infringe on Mirror World’s technologies and that the damages were also too high.

Bloomberg: “Mirror Worlds may have painted an appealing picture for the jury, but it failed to lay a solid foundation sufficient to support important elements it was required to establish under the law,” U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis wrote.

Apple has also recently won an initial patent battle with cellphone giant Nokia, as the International Trade Commission ruled Apple did not infringe on a set of patents related to mobile phones, computer technologies, and portable music players.

[via Bloomberg]

Image via Engadget