Podcasting Community Faces Patent Troll Threat; EFF Wants to Help
Reprinted from Electronic Frontier Foundation under Creative Commons License
Another day, another patent troll. Or so it seems. The threat of the patent troll is not new—we’ve written about it time and again. But the troubling trend of suing downstream users and content providers really makes us mad. First it was the app developers, then those who scan documents to email. Now, the latest outrage: podcasters. Yes, really. And EFF wants to help organize those facing the threat so that we can gauge the size of the problem and hopefully help people find counsel and a way to work together in response.
First, some background. A company called Personal Audio is claiming that it owns a patent that covers podcasting technology and has sent podcasters letters, demanding that they pay Personal Audio to use the technology. As with many patents, this one is dangerously broad and vague, allegedly covering, well, any and all podcasting. Just take a look at this language:
Apparatus for disseminating a series of episodes represented by media files via the Internet as said episodes become available…
Of course, as with most software patents, this one fails to explain how that “apparatus” would actually work, apparently letting its owner make the ridiculous claim that essentially anyapparatus that disseminates episodes infringes its patent.
So far, Personal Audio has sued some pretty high-profile and beloved podcasts, like the Adam Carolla Show and HowStuffWorks. It also sent its threatening letters demanding a license to numerous podcasters, like Majority Report’s Sam Seder (we got a chance to talk to him a little about the problem on his show here).
Are you a podcaster? Have you received a letter from Personal Audio? We think there are more of you out there than you realize. EFF would like to understand how big the problem is and make sure you’re all in touch with each other. We can also help you find counsel. If you’ve heard from Personal Audio, please send us an email at podcasting@eff.org.
2 thoughts on “Podcasting Community Faces Patent Troll Threat; EFF Wants to Help”
Oh good grief! Seems to me there was some entity that tried to patent any interactivity with the net, way back when. What is the date of the patent, and who needs to be fired at the Patent Office?
This is a form of crime that sees multiple patents with extremely vague content used to intimidate companies into paying royalties to those who have done nothing to advance the technology they stifle in a immoral attempt to reap money for nothing. There are “companies” that hold multiple patents on non-existing techn0ologies just waiting for someone else to do the sweat equity so they can then sue them.
Our nation is in sad shape in oh so many ways, thanks Barack.