Spotify Sued For Patent Infringement

An anonymous reader writes "Celebrated online music player Spotify just entered the US market a few weeks ago, and already it's being sued for patent infringement. Welcome to America! The patent in question is a very very broad patent on distribution of music in a digital form, which basically describes how anyone would ever distribute digital music. The company suing, PacketVideo, has no competing product. It just wants money from the company that actually innovated."

Comments

Spotify

[m2vq]

Spotify is actually an awesome service. For a few years it has almost completely stopped music piracy in scandinavia and in other european countries. Now instead of sending each other mp3 files as file transfer people are just pasting spotify links in IM conversations here. It's something music companies should be proud of, and help it grow even more.

Re:Spotify

[Anonymous Coward]

If you buy a track on Spotify it will be downloaded as a DRM free MP3.

Re:Spotify

[dakameleon]

I suppose artists should be celebrating getting 0.00029c per play than nothing at all, right?

Re:Spotify

[CowboyBob500]

If an artist is trying to create something to make money then they are doing it for the wrong reason - and it most likely shows (see Rebecca Black). If as an artist you end up making money, then that's great but it should never be a driving factor in the creation process. Which is why every single artist I know (including myself) would still put their music up on Spotify even if they paid nothing at all. It's all about spreading the word, finding an audience, and most importantly people appreciating what you are doing. One person saying they enjoy your art is worth more than any money these companies pay - whether that's 0.00029c or 99c (or whatever) per play.

(This is all IMO obviously)

Re:Spotify

[Anonymous Coward]

Where is this dungeon where these people are being "forced" to do anything? I keep hearing about it, but all I see is people who choose to do something that everyone knows rarely makes money for the vast majority of people who do it. It's the same thing for people who aspire to be pro athletes. Yes, there are a handful who make ridiculous sums, but the vast majority don't make a living wage, either because they don't get picked up by a team at all, or because they simply aren't good enough, etc.

People try to say exactly the same thing about open source and software development. If people are giving away all this work without the ability to "control" it (as if that's even possible in the real world), how will programmers make any money? And yet, here are all these people (myself included) who continue to be paid very healthy amounts of money to do just that.

My suggestion to stop living in the world of theory, and look at how things actually work in the real world.

On the bright side

[scottbomb]

The more these patent trolls do their thing, the closer we get to legislation that puts an end (or at least seriously hampers) such behavior. Unfortunately, such legislation tends to have unintended consequences but seriously, this is getting out of control and something needs to be done. I can see this as another case where the "loser pays" idea may have an impact.

Nice Intro to Software Patent Issue

[uncadonna]

If you're having trouble explaining the software patent issue to someone you think might be interested, refer them to Julian Sanchez' recent article which sums it up very nicely.

Actually, this is for DRM protected music...

[cliffjumper222]

Reading Claim 1, of which all the others are dependent, this is for the distribution of music using a user-specific DRM system. Also, the claim is incredibly long which != broad BTW. Remember, do one thing differently and you're golden. Reading the claim and with such specific nuggets like the music having to include a "core" that includes "at least one object identification code, object structure information, a consumer code and an encryption table", and at least one "layer" around the core containing "the actual music information" etc and I wonder if anyone would actually do it that way anyway. That was probably the way PacketVideo did it, who have actually be around for years doing video meida streaming going back to the 56K modem days (and probably before). And they are innovators, not a troll.

It's a self-perpetuating problem

[mykos]

Patents, in theory, are designed with the ultimate goal of rewarding creativity. But now creative people can't walk two steps without tripping over a patent. So now they have to work for a giant company who has a mountain of patents in its vault just so they have protection from being sued out of existence by companies like the ones they work for.

Oh yeah, and anything creative the individual come up with is now property of the corporation, adding to the cycle.

Fuck all patents and patent holders

[fadir]

Seriously, I'm sick and tired of this.

I'm absolutely convinced that we suffer way greater from all the damage those patent trolls cause and the general barrier that the pure existence of patents pose than the potential issues of a total removal of patents would cause. I have yet to see any conclusive argumentation why we actually need (in the meaning of: the society as a whole) patents. There might be slight issues with innovation in certain areas during the transition but I'm sure that this wouldn't outweigh the benefits of not having to employ hordes of lawyers or being afraid to get sued to hell and back all the time.

I used to work for DWS/PacketVideo

[pyalot]

As anybody can see from my CV ( http://codeflow.org/ ) I used to work for DWS. This was a little serverside company sister to Secure Digitial Container, the company the patent comes from that was later bought (together with DWS) by PacketVideo.

I liked working for DWS, they where a small and quirky company with good people. DWS/SDC never sued anybody for this patent, it was mainly a bargaining chip to impress clients. Mind the patent is about DRM, specifically, it's about polymorphic DRM (that is the variant that delivers its own encryption/decryption/obfuscation code together with the content).

Sidenote: DWS/SDC where far flung leftovers of Napster.

But then the inevitable happened, the companies got bought by PacketVideo. The founder/investor and the then CEO (a superb business drummer, though no techie) left the company and American management took over.

During my work there, I was increasingly troubled by the DRM side of business. Eventually I left (and I'd have probably been fired if I didn't), mostly for reasons where management differed with my idea of efficiency and quality. I traveled around the world and I started freelancing, and I can't say it was a bad decision, has been a good life since.

I'm not surprised that PacketVideo eventually started suing people for the patents they hold. It's a small and troubled company that's been struggling for years to "get it right", and as they probably increasingly run out of funds to keep the fiction alive, it gets ever more tempting to cash in some quick buck simply by virtue of sitting on patents you've acquired.

Active Discouragement

[DaAdder]

Basically what this amounts to is actively discouraging anyone in the technology sector, anywhere in the world, to do business in the USA. You're clearly showing that what works and is successful in the rest of the world is an unwanted development in your country. As someone is pointing out, this has reduced, almost eliminated the need for music piracy in a lot of European countries, which apparently isn't something you're interested in either.

On top of that, you're considering not paying the interest on the money you borrowed from the rest of the world. This would of course end people betting on your country as a safe investment. Money flowing into your economy from the rest of the world appears to be something to avoid as well. Reducing the number of people in your country that can actually pay their mortgage or stay employed at all seems to be no cause for concern either.

The only thing I can really see you doing that would cause your status as an ally and first rate investment opportunity to go into decline any faster, would perhaps be to start senseless wars that ran on for decades mainly to keep the price of oil up.

Oh wait...