Tech: Patent lawsuit-o-rama: Spotify sued just weeks after going stateside
- Once again, we see patents being used as a tool to shakedown companies who were actually innovative in how they executed, with a ridiculously broad patent that contributed zippo to the actual state of the art.
- TechDirt’s Mike Masnick • Offering a spot-on take regarding the patent lawsuit filed against the finally-in-the-U.S. Spotify. The company suing, PacketVideo, specializes in mobile streaming solutions, but did not develop the patent, which dates back to 1994. Instead, they bought it a couple of years ago. Masnick, in his argument about patent law, rightly points out that it’s easy to patent an idea (especially one that was already floating around the ether in 1994, like audio streaming), but it’s very hard to do what Spotify does — which is, corral the cats into a room and get them all working in unison. Fact of matter: PacketVideo didn’t put any of the work into getting the labels on board, creating an innovative distribution model, or making it a cinch to use. Spotify did. And it’s another example of how patent law fails to protect real innovation, but instead punishes success. source