The following is excerpted from a July 29, 2011 article by Chenda Ngak at CBS News' Tech Talk:
Popular music streaming service Spotify faces a patent-infringement lawsuit.
PacketVideo, a software company that enables wireless streaming of music and videos on mobile devices, filed the suit against Spotify on Wednesday, claiming that the U.K.-based company violated a patent for "distribution of music in digital form."
The plaintiff cited a violation of U.S. patent 5,636,276 and says "Spotify USA has offered for sale, sold, and imported products and/or services configured to infringe the '276 patent, and instructed and encouraged others to use the '276 patent in an infringing manner."
According to CNET, "PacketVideo's victory could have a profound impact on the marketplace. It appears that the patent is quite broad, and there's no telling if the company will go after other music-streaming services that haven't fallen in line."
Read the full article here.
It's up to a court of law to determine the validity of the patent at issue, its claims, and the facts of the specific case. It is annoying, however, that it has become increasingly common for patent trolls and other patent enforcers to get away with filing such "bare-bones" complaints. Spotify should probably file immediately for reexamination of PacketVideo's patent.
http://www.GeneralPatent.com/blog/
Posted by: patent litigation | August 01, 2011 at 11:46 PM