Slashdot Mirror
Amazon Sued Over E-Book DRM Patent
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Discovery Communications, the parent company of the Discovery Channel, is alleging that Amazon's Kindle e-book reader infringes upon their patent for DRM-encumbered e-books (Discovery's complaint, PDF). The patent in question was filed back in 1999 and issued in 2007 — coincidentally one day after Kindle 1.0 went on the market — and has claims for DRM implemented with a great many particular symmetric key ciphers and key exchange algorithms, (the patent has 171 claims). Unlike most software patents, this one goes into quite a lot of detail about how the encryption is to be performed. But it will still be interesting to see if it can pass the 'machine or transformation' test now that In Re Bilski is being accepted as precedent. After all, it seems like all of these encryption and e-book distribution schemes could be run on a general-purpose PC, so is the 'invention' actually tied to a 'particular machine or apparatus' just because an e-book 'viewer' (not to mention 'home system', 'library', and 'kiosk') happens to be specified in the patent's claims? Or can the encryption of an e-book be claimed as some kind of 'transformation' when the law in that area is especially murky — when no one knows how In Re Bilski may affect the precedent of In Re Schrader?"
I think most of them are still compiling the application that will translate the summary for them.
The geek in me is so confused... Do I get mad at the company suing over patent infringement for a DRM scheme (so many bad things there it's hard to even know where to begin) or do I cheer for the Discovery Channel, which is one of the greatest channels on the air for a geek.
...
I'm so confused.
Help me Obi Wan. You're my
Sorry. Geek moment.
The Pirate Bay.
You are welcome on my lawn.