Ah the wonderful world of patent infringement lawsuits over in the good ole US of A, no sooner than a new thing hits stateside and someone in jumping out of their pram and filing patent infringement, and the latest bit of gossip on the patent infringement circle is that Spotify, after just 2-weeks on US shores has been dragged into a patent infringement battle.
According to an article over on PC Mag are reporting that PacketVideo, a company based in San Diego has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Spotify in both the United States and the Netherlands after failing to gain a licensing deal with Spotify.
PacketVideo general counsel Joel Espelien says in a statement, “PacketVideo has a strong intellectual property portfolio, and will take any necessary action needed to protect its intellectual property and prevent the misuse of its patents.”
Apparently the patent infringement suit covers a single patent in the US and another in Europe that according to PacketVideo, “enables Spotify’s cloud-based music service.”
Spotifiy’s response is that their success can be attributed to “highly innovative, proprietary hybrid technology that incorporates peer-to-peer technology,” and they go on to say, “The result is what we humbly believe to be a better music experience – lightning fast, dead simple and really social. PacketVideo is claiming that by distributing music over the Internet, Spotify (and by inference any other similar digital music service) has infringed one of the patents that has previously been acquired by PacketVideo. Spotify is strongly contesting PacketVideo’s claim.”
Apparently both the patents where acquired by PacketVideo back in 2007 when the company purchased SDC AG in Switzerland and the patents were originally filed in the middle of the 90’s.
Packet Video software enables users to wirelessly watch video and listen to music, and is embedded in over 260 million devices globally and in over 320 differing products according to the California filing.
Thus the never-ending legal battle over patent infringement continues, with the Spotify, PocketVideo battle no doubt going to take some time before a conclusion is reached, but then that’s the way of things when it comes to patent infringements, and no doubt when all is done and dusted the only real people that win are the lawyers.