Gracenote v. Roxio CDDB Suit Settled

An anonymous reader writes with this update: "As reported via the usual sources, Roxio announced today that the lawsuit (read all about it on slashdot) with gracenote has been settled. To fresh up your memory: Gracenote ('cddb') sued Roxio because they switched from cddb to freedb for identification of audio CDs. Discussion on slashdot was active, especially questioning if gracenote really owned the titles. David Hyman, Gracenote CEO, added, 'We look forward to a long and mutually successful relationship between our companies through this new license for intellectual property and current and advanced music recognition services.' End of quote. Do I need say more than 'corporate lawyers'?"

Comments

In other words

[eclectro]

Let's give Gracenote a couple of dimes to shut them up, it's cheaper than litigating this thing for years.

Not the end of the matter

[jdfox]

So we have a "sealed agreement", under which Gracenote backs down from their utterly contemptible and indefensible suit. This should not be the end of the matter, folks.
If we users allow corporate parasites like Gracenote to operate this kind of hit-and-run prospecting on OUR data, we will all lose in the end. With deep enough pockets, one of them is bound to succeed eventually.

The financial pressure against this kind of opportunistic horseshit must not end with a quiet "sealed agreement", and the lawyers all shaking hands and walking away. Don't use Gracenote's products, via Roxio products, sub-licensed technology on Windows, or any other vendor. Vote with your wallet. Use and help build free alternatives like freedb. The business case for Gracenote to try it again will be much tougher to build, next time they're tempted.

Re:Not the end of the matter

[drix]

Let's not forget that Roxio has agency in the matter, too. It's clear, given this lawsuit, that Roxio would have utterly annihilated Gracenote in court because a.) the suit was without merit and, b.) Roxio has the full faith and credit of Adaptec behind them, meaning that they can put probably ten times the legal resources on this case as puny little Gracenote. Thus, Gracenote obviously initiated the settlement and probably ended up paying a fair sum for the "privilege" of providing database access gratis to Roxio for quite some time. So Roxio's principalled stand is essentially bought off by some cash and stock. I'm not sure which bothers me more, that sellout or "hit and run prospecting" on our data.

This whole thing smells of rotten fish...

[Firehawke]

Well, a settlement usually means that one side has a clear advantage at the courts.

Now, using that basis, and the fact that the whole deal is a hidden arrangement, one could guess that one of the two sides obviously didn't want the public to know about this.

Okay, fine.. who has the most to lose by a public disclosure? Gracenote, I think. Follow this logic:

If Roxio was about to lose the case, Gracenote would rather have it public so that nobody else attempts to go without their service.

If Gracenote was about to lose the case, they could approach Roxio behind closed doors to offer them better incentives-- perhaps even PAY Roxio to use the service-- if they'll settle and keep their mouth shut about the conditions. Why would they do this? Because if it were well known that Gracenote couldn't control the 'industry' on CDDB, then nobody would bother to pay for their services in the face of a cheaper alternative.

Unless I'm completely missing something here, that's pretty much the best guess I can come up with.

The key issue

[mpawlo]

The key issue - who's the owner of the database - is not yet settled. A class action suite, filed by all the users who contributed to the CDDB database should be the only way to resolve that issue once and for all. However, I have a very hard time seeing that happen.

The thing you might learn from the CDDB history and the creation of the free version of CDDB - freedb - is that licenses do matter - even if the project is a volountary and open one to begin with.

Mikael

Wait a second here...

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's pretend I'm not a rabid Free Software supporter for just a minute:

Can you really call a list of artist/album/track info "Intellectual Property"?? OK, I may not agree with your argument that code/fiction/art/music you create is or isn't IP, but to call a fscking a list. A LIST of someone else's creative works IP? Isn't that just a bit too far? So, if I make a long list of train stations around the world, that list somehow "belongs" to me, as IP? Someone please explain this absurdity to me.

Posting anonymously because I never bothered to make an account.

And the irony of it all is...

[Black Parrot]

If this kind of enterprise ever becomes profitable the RIAA is going to step in and say "All your titles are belong to us", and Gracenote will end up paying the RIAA a license fee just to stay in business.

Roxio caved to this?

[acceleriter]

That's incredible. Now these scumbags who stole (to use the rhetoric of intellectual "property") the work of all those who entered data to what was a GPL'd database by locking it up have won a battle they can use to bludgeon other companies.

Thanks, Roxio, for your character and grace under pressure. NOT.

Re:It's really insignificant.

[Alan Partridge]

That's pretty bold - Toast Titanium on the Mac is really pretty fantastic, and I've been using Toast 3.5.7 on another Mac for YEARS without a hiccough. Maybe Roxio's ware is fine, and it's your OS that's a POS?

Clarify that with adding "Windows"..

[EvilStein]

Please don't forget that Roxio also makes Toast for the Macintosh, which most certainly does not suck. Toast 5.0.2 has been the most worthwhile software purchase I've made in quite a while. Never had it crash, it's dead easy to uninstall, they fixed the conflicts with Apple's own Disc Burner (which won't work for me on my spare-parts beige G3/300 with my CD-RW) and they even sent me a few free blank CD-R discs just for bothering to register the product. I haven't burned one single coaster in *months* (which is rare for me! heh)

Overall I've been really happy with Roxio and especially Toast. I don't have much experience with their Windows products, so I cannot speak for them.

Re:Here is what I smell!

[luiss]

If there are new "Audio-CD" formats, wouldn't it make sense that these new formats include the meta-information currently provided by Gracenote, freedb, etc..

Actually, don't some existing CD's contain title/track information already?

Why would there even be a need for gracenote/freedb in the future (besides for helping id 'legacy' CDs)?

Re:Playing Devil's Advocate...

[phillymjs]

There's a slight difference here... Metallica, et al made music for the expectation of sufficient monetary compensation to make a living from it.

Those of us who did data-entry for CDDB over the years did it as a service to the music-listening-geek community, with only the expectation that CDDB would continue to be of, by, and for the people.

Now Gracenote has taken over a collective work without compensating those who produced it, and is charging the people who built it to use it. This is like being charged admission to get into your own house, which strikes me as more outrageous than people downloading copyrighted music to get back at the RIAA because they're tired of paying damn near twenty bucks each for two-dollar CDs with two or three good songs on them.

Eventually, though, just like they shut down www.lyrics.ch, the RIAA will decide to enforce the fact that the names of songs and albums are their intellectual property, and Gracenote will be the one on the wrong end of the legal gun.

Of course, that's only if the manufacture of computer-unreadable music CDs doesn't render Gracenote irrelevant first.

~Philly

I figured people would forget...

[singularity]

If you go back and look at the original Slashdot article, you would see that part of what Gracenote was complaining about was that Gracenote *helped* Roxio write some of the code to access the, and helped Roxio out with some of the protocols they were using.

Roxio takes the help, and then turns around and make the default *another* DB - a free one that Gracenote is trying to compete with.

Gracenote had a decent case against Roxio. Gracenote could make a case that there was an understanding that the help Gracenote was providing would help Gracenote out in the end.