Altnet Sues Record Industry Over File Hash Patents

robochan writes "In a charming twist of fate, CNET is reporting that Altnet, a company that sells music and other digital goods through file-swapping services, is suing the RIAA for alleged patent infringement. Altnet CEO Kevin Bermeister stated, 'We cannot stand by and allow them to erode our business opportunity by the wholesale infringement of our rights.' Goodness, that sounds all too familiar..."

Comments

New business model, buy patents and sue.

[garcia]

In the summer of 2003, it announced that it had purchased patent rights to the process of identifying files on a peer-to-peer network using a "hash," or digital fingerprint based on the contents of the file.

Altnet and Brilliant Digital Entertainment are joint venture partners with Sharman Networks, the Australian company that owns the Kazaa software.

So a network that is well known for trading files that probably shouldn't be traded for free buys a patent and tries to sell the services to a group that wants nothing to do with P2P. Then when the group that wants nothing to do with them ignores them they turn around and sue them. Sounds like another company that has been in tech-news recently.

Re:New business model, buy patents and sue.

[canajin56]

At first I wanted to diagree, as the article says it is a patent on hashing files on peer to peer networks. However, Halo1 was kind enough to track down the patent in question and it shows that the patent, is, in fact, on hashing in general. In fact, it would most likely apply to a simple hash table. They basically define the concept of the function being deterministic, and collision resistant, but in lawyer speak.

The run down on what they are patenting is, creating a unique identifier for any file, that is signifigantly smaller than the file, and where there is low probability of being able to find a collision. This identifier is only based on the data, not the file name or creation date. And it can be used to determine if one has the file, simply by comparing it to a list of known identifiers. Sounds an awful lot like a general description of any hashing scheme.

However, the good news is that was filed in October 1997. I'm pretty sure that somebody thought of using hashes to keep track of files, whther over a network or locally, well before 1997.

Of course, many of these silly patent problems would be no problem to beat in court. However, the system doesn't work that way, and these people could make a lot of money by settling with people who can't afford a lawyer. The good news is they went after the RIAA, who has lots of money and lawyers. Expect a quick defeat and patent invalidation.

How ironic

[lothar97]

That the RIAA is being sued over seeding Kazaa with fake files.

I don't think this is a matter of "buy patents then make money" as some may argue. They had their p2p network, and the RIAA was flooding them with bogus files to trick users. They purchased a technology that complimented their needs (e.g. weeding out the fake files and helping people find legit files), and now they're pulling the old "thou shalt not reverse engineer" argument.

If we replaced "Altnet" with "Microsoft" or another /. target, I imagine this discussion would get quite angry. I imagine we'll have a lot of "way to go!" comments this time around- we're all hypocrites!

Re:Who to support?

[radarsat1]

it's an easy misconception that patents are "bad"

however, patents are not bad. patents, in their most basic and innocent form, are supposed to protect the rights of inventors so they can make a profit on their hard work. nothing wrong there.

what's "bad" is patent ABUSE. like companies that patent things that they'll never use, just in case someone uses it, so they can sue them. Patents should not be made with the intent to sue or collect license fees. Patents should be made so that a decent product can be funded and sold at a practical price.

So in the end, capitalism falls for the same reason as communism: People who take advantage of the system. Too bad the world is full of assholes.

Re:Revenge

[Daleks]

So patents are great when they're used against organizations you don't like, but they're evil when they're used to squash innovation? You can't have it both ways.

Re:Revenge

[HackHackBoom]

No, in a perfect world you can't. You're right that I and many others are being hypocritical about this.

I replied to a similiar comment in another thread, but I want to add this here as well: The patent system is so screwed up by lawyers that we're stuck using whatever tools we have to fight. If that means using the other edge of the sword on the RIAA, then so be it.

Too bad the file hash isn't encrypted...

[denis-The-menace]

Then Altnet could use the DMCA against the RIAA.
Now that would REAL sweet revenge.

Re:If only both of the could lose...

[ColdWetDog]

They will, only the lawyers will be the real winners.

Actually, this is an old business model.

[WindBourne]

the problem is that we are granting patents on all sorts of ideas that have loads of prior arts. Until we up the pay in the patent office and address the real problems these will continue.

Re:Actually, this is an old business model.

[phearlez]

Why do the same clowns who defend CEO pay by saying "That's the salary required to attract qualified candidates!" suddenly forget that standard when we talk about making civil service jobs competitive with the private sector?

Is it really hypocrisy?

[jackrd]

Is it really hypocritical to be glad to see something like this happen?

It seems like making use of unjust laws is one of the best ways to bring to light their injustice. Think about the laws against blacks riding in the front of the bus. I'm sure many people were happy to hear about the first black person to get arrested for riding in the front a bus. They weren't happy because that person was in jail, but happy because it was a step in the direction of exposing the unjust law that jailed them.

I'm not "rooting for altnet" nor am I "on the side of the RIAA." Things just aren't that simple. But I'm happy that this happened, I hope the patent gets tossed out, and I hope (and I know this is stretching things) that maybe it's another step in the direction of industry (and the public) realizing that the patenting system as it is now is flawed.

And I'll consider any challenge to the RIAA's current behaviour a move in the right direction; even if I think that challenge is silly and hope that it gets tossed out. Maybe it'll inspire more, and more appropriate, challenges in the future.