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Adam Carolla Joins Fight Against Podcast Patent Troll

Posted by timothy on from the save-penn's-sunday-school dept.

First time accepted submitter tor528 (896250) writes "Patent troll Personal Audio has sued top podcasters including Adam Carolla and HowStuffWorks, claiming that they own the patent for delivery of episodic content over the Internet. Adam Carolla is fighting back and has started a Fund Anything campaign to cover legal fees. From the Fund Anything campaign page: 'If Adam Carolla loses this battle, then every other Podcast will be quickly shut down. Why? Because Patent Trolls like Personal Audio would use a victory over Carolla as leverage to extort money from every other Podcast.. As you probably know, Podcasts are inherently small, owner-operated businesses that do not have the financial resources to fight off this type of an assault. Therefore, Podcasts as we know them today would cease to exist.' James Logan of Personal Audio answered Slashdotters' questions in June 2013. Links to the patent in question can be found on Personal Audio's website. The EFF filed a challenge against Personal Audio's podcasting patent in October 2013."

6 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Headline misleading by Dins · · Score: 5, Informative

    I wouldn't say he "joined the fight" against patent trolls. He was sued by one and decided to very loudly and publicly fight it - in part so other podcasts aren't put out of buisness. Hence the Fund Anything campaign etc. I listen to his show often, and it's a constant topic.

    More power to him!

  2. Personal Audio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Give them a hand!

    550 Fannin Street
    Suite 1313
    Beaumont, Texas 77701

    E-mail: info@personalaudio.net

    Phone: (409) 768-0009

  3. Whas 1000 patent lawyers at the bottom of the sea? by rmdingler · · Score: 5, Funny

    I remember a quaint world where the lowest of the bottom-feeders were merely chasing ambulances.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  4. Re:Isnt there prior art? by nospam007 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "ie. radio?"

    Newsletters (the twitter of the nineties)
    I got emailed 'periodic content' daily, weekly, monthly, over the 'internet', you could subscribe an unsubscribe via email too.
    Some of them run to this very day.

  5. Is the problem really patent trolls? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You need to fight this problem at the source: the patent office. Generalized patents like this shouldn't be awarded, and generalized patents already granted should be revoked. Take away the trolls ammo and tell the troll he's not getting any future ammo.

  6. Re:You should have to defend patents, or lose them by Grond · · Score: 5, Informative

    The law already recognizes this. First, damages for patent infringement can only go back six years. Second, the standard for issuing an injunction takes into consideration how long a patentee sat on its rights and the extent to which the public has become dependent upon the wide availability of the invention. Third, there is an equitable doctrine called laches that can prevent a claim from being made after a long time, sort of like a flexible, implicit statute of limitations.