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Open Source Music Fingerprinter Gets Patent Nastygram

Posted by timothy on from the their-patent-gives-away-the-secret dept.

Nushio writes "The code wasn't even released, and yet Roy van Rijn, a Music & Free Software enthusiast received a C&D from Landmark Digital Services, owners of Shazam, a music service that allows you to find a song, by listening to a part of it. And if that wasn't enough, they want him to take down his blog post (Google Cache) explaining how he did it because it 'may be viewed internationally. As a result, [it] may contribute to someone infringing our patents in any part of the world.'" Update: 07/09 00:31 GMT by T :Story updated to reflect that Shazam is multiplatform, not Android-only, as implied by the original phrasing.

2 of 487 comments (clear)

  1. Why take down his blog? by Kcowolf · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Here's why: he's not just publishing details from the patent; he's publishing source code to a competing application that they think works too similarly to theirs. I agree that it sucks, but they have to defend their patent or risk losing it.

  2. Re:Patent and disclosure... by MadCow42 · · Score: 0, Redundant

    thanks - I'll look that over too!

    --
    I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.