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Thread: Are Podcasters Going To Get Sued?

  1. #1
    Moderator / IAIB Pro Broadcaster mcphillips's Avatar
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    Post Are Podcasters Going To Get Sued?

    Take a look at this article from Jeffrey Powers:

    Are Podcasters Going To Get Sued?

    It's interesting that the granted patent claims priority to an invention from 1996. The complaint alleges that the defendants are infringing claim 31 of the patent (cited in the article). Defendants include Ace Broadcasting Company (Adam Carolla's distributor), Togi Entertainment (toginet.com), and howstuffworks.com. It will be interesting to see how the case unfolds.
    Please direct all questions for me to the forum so that all can benefit.

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    IAIB Broadcaster BradShoemaker's Avatar
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    So what exactly is claim 31?

    I say exactly what another commenter stated... this is getting beyond ridiculous.

  3. #3
    Moderator / IAIB Pro Broadcaster mcphillips's Avatar
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    The full patent is available here or here. You can download a PDF copy on the second link.

    31. Apparatus for disseminating a series of episodes represented by media files via the Internet as said episodes become available, said apparatus comprising: one or more data storage servers, one or more communication interfaces connected to the Internet for receiving requests received from remotely located client devices, and for responding to each given one of said requests by downloading a data file identified by a URL specified by said given one of said requests to the requesting client device, one or more processors coupled to said one or more data storage servers and to said one or more communications interfaces for: storing one or more media files representing each episode as said one or more media files become available, each of said one or more media files being stored at a storage location specified by a unique episode URL; from time to time, as new episodes represented in said series of episodes become available, storing an updated version of a compilation file in one of said one or more data storage servers at a storage location identified by a predetermined URL, said updated version of said compilation file containing attribute data describing currently available episodes in said series of episodes, said attribute data for each given one of said currently available episodes including displayable text describing said given one of said currently available episodes and one or more episode URLs specifying the storage locations of one or more corresponding media files representing said given one of said episodes; and employing one of said one or more communication interfaces to: (a) receive a request from a requesting client device for the updated version of said compilation file located at said predetermined URL; (b) download said updated version of said compilation file to said requesting client device; and (c) thereafter receive and respond to a request from said requesting client device for one or more media files identified by one or more corresponding episode URLs included in the attribute data contained in said updated version of said compilation files.
    Please direct all questions for me to the forum so that all can benefit.

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    IAIB Broadcaster BradShoemaker's Avatar
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    First off, it sounds like he has patented the idea of a URL to request a media file (yes I know that is not what he patented, but it was my first impression).

    I understand why he could go after Apple and the companies that have devices that search for updated media files, etc, but I don't see how this pertains to an individual ibroadcaster. I hope it gets squashed quickly and goes away. Patent trolls are the biggest pain in the ass when it comes to common sense innovation.

    I support this article in full: http://gigaom.com/2012/10/08/twitter...tent-mischief/

  5. #5
    IAIB Broadcaster Donovan's Avatar
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    It also sounds like they are referencing RSS itself and then expands on the idea of storing media on storage servers, being notified of new media content and then clicking on a link (URL) to either listen/view or download said content. I wonder if they plan to sue Google/YouTube? YouTube notifies you with a link and the media content is stored "in the cloud" which is nothing but a distribution of storage servers.

    It's people/companies like this that make doing anything innovating in this world pretty damned impossible. Their entire patent needs to be thrown the hell out. Seems like to me that hyperlinking could be considered prior art in this case as their patent is predicated on the existence of a link itself.

    Or maybe I'm just too stupid to understand any of it.
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  6. #6
    IAIB Broadcaster BradShoemaker's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Donovan View Post
    Or maybe I'm just too stupid to understand any of it.
    Count me in that category as it's exactly what I was thinking about what it calls for and if that is the case then this is only the beginning because any and all forms of video/audio content is distributed this way...

    Which is why, again, I can understand them trying to get money out of the Apple's of the world (I don't agree with the idea, but it is going after the distribution channel not the content creator who is using a the distribution channels).

    It will be interesting to see who wins. I know I'll be following closely.

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