When Apple paid $3 billion to acquire Beats a few months ago, the company probably did not plan on acquiring a lawsuit along with a successful headphone line and up-and-coming music service. Unfortunately for the California-based computer company, it looks like that is exactly what is going to happen.

According to a Geek.com post published early Saturday morning, Bose is suing Beats over multiple alleged patent infringement cases. The majority of the lawsuit targets Beats’ most successful products: headphones. Bose believes that Beats has, in the development of its noise-cancelling, over-the-ear headphones, infringed upon 36 separate patents. Those patents include technological innovations that Bose has developed for its own similar headphones over the past 50 years.

Perhaps the good news for Apple is that patent lawsuits tend to move through the courts at a notoriously slow pace. That will give the company plenty of time to finalize the Beats acquisition and prepare a compelling defense. After all, Apple is not exactly inexperienced in this regard: the corporation has battled both Samsung and Google over patent disputes in recent years, sometimes coming out on top, sometimes having to pay settlements. Either way, Apple will enter the courtroom with Bose ready to go to war.

Still, the lawsuit is something that Apple and Beats will need to take seriously. Bose is asking the court to find Beats guilty of willful patent infringement, to order the payment of monetary damages, and to issue an injunction that would forbid Beats from selling its current headphone products in stores. Needless to say, an in-court loss would be a crushing defeat for both Apple and Beats. An out-of-court settlement may be more likely, if Apple wants to avoid the possibility of a Beats injunction.