Intertrust, a company largely owned by Sony and Philips, filed a lawsuit against Apple Inc. earlier today in the Federal District Court in the Northern District of California. Intertrust has accused Apple Inc. of violating twelve patents in several products, including the iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Mac computers.

Talal Shamoon, CEO of Intertrust, said he had tried to have negotiations with Apple Inc for several years, but nothing ever came to fruition. “You have a culture over there where they see the courtroom as an extension of the conference room,” he said.

Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman, declined to comment, citing the company’s policy of not commenting on pending litigation.

Intertrust has only ever gone after one other company in the past, Microsoft. The end result of the lawsuit being a $440 million settlement paid by Microsoft to Intertrust.

Here is a link to Intertrust’s complaint.