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Apple, Sony, others named in DRM patent lawsuit

updated 08:20 am EDT, Wed August 17, 2005

Apple named in DRM lawsuit

Five of the top companies in the online music industry--including Apple and Sony--are being sued because their music stores and DRM technology . As a royalty, the company was seeking 12-percent of Apple's profits on the revenues generated from iTunes and iPod sales, and had given Apple until the end of March to respond.

The DRM technique relies heavily on a "psychological barrier" to discourage users from sharing music by embedding personal information into each music file the user purchases. Demanding a trial by jury, Tse is seeking both actual and statutory damages resulting from the infringement, following unsuccessful negotiations with each company--including Apple--for royalties payments.

by MacNN Staff

(14)

TAGS :

industry, digital music/video

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legacyb4
Mac Elite

Joined: May 2001

0

08/17, 09:16am | report spam | close Reply |
yet another shyster

waiting 7 years before filing a claim?

zac4mac
Mac Elite

Joined: Oct 1999

0

08/17, 10:19am | report spam | close Reply |
now that's a hoot -

... a patent violation lawsuit FROM Hong Kong.

Z

Deal
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Apr 2001

0

08/17, 10:35am | report spam | close Reply |
Einstein...

... is obviously not working in the patent office any more.

jhorvatic
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

0

08/17, 10:38am | report spam | close Reply |
Get rich quick claim

7 years seems a little to long to start filing claims against companies. There should be some time limit to stop this kind of nonsense. Anyone who actually made there own product should be able to relize it was copied within 6 months. This is clearly a get rich in court scam and will not be easy for them to win fortunately. Let see Volkswagan has been in business since at least 1950. So now I'm going to sue them for copying my beetle design. Yea right.

beeble
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

0

08/17, 10:58am | report spam | close Reply |
Where's his product?

The US patent system is based on first to invent not first to file if I recall correctly. So where's this guys DRM based product?

He also has prior art issues. I had computer games 15 years ago that had a kind of DRM. You could only install them on a few computers without first removing them from another. This always caused problems when hard drives crashed. That was a system to protect software from unauthorized use. But is a music file a piece of software. Any computer science textbook would refer to it as a piece of data as it doesn't actually contain a program, an algorithm. The DRM doesn't stop iTunes (the software) from unauthorized use, it stop's the music (the data) from unauthorized use. How exactly does this guys patent apply to digital music again?

I think this guy would find it easier to push an elephant up Mt Everest. He has far too many holes in his arguments to be going up against the legal departments of Song, Apple, etc.

beeble
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

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08/17, 10:59am | report spam | close Reply |
Song????

I meant the legal departments of SonY, Apple, etc.

I need more sleep!

l008com
Addicted to MacNN

Joined: Jan 2000

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08/17, 01:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
umm

But don't all the other stores besides apple use windows crappola files? So wouldn't you sue them, not sony? Plus windows media is completely different than apple's format. So is this guy claiming that he invented the very concept of DRM for music files.

resuna
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

0

08/17, 01:07pm | report spam | close Reply |
This is totally stupid.

When software was shipped on floppies this was pretty comon. The first time you installed it from the copy-protected floppies it would brand them with your name so you didn't pass it around.

We're talking '80s, here, folks.

kentuckyfried
Senior User

Joined: Jan 2002

0

08/17, 02:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
*shakes fist*

Those slanty-eyed b*******!!

(lol...I'm Asian so I'm free to say this =P )

ibugv4
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2003

0

08/17, 02:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
yeah, right

He won't win.

Ganesha
Senior User

Joined: Jul 2002

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08/17, 03:29pm | report spam | close Reply |
Problems...

Usually trial by jury in a patent case, means your claims depend on confusing a jury into believing two things are the same.

If you read the patent you will find the following problems (at glance)

Requires checking of the software product against a central ID server every time the software product is accessed. This means the central ID server is the iTunes program, since iTunes doesn't talk to Apple every time a file a played, only when a new unauthorized one is..

The patent then requires the central ID server and software product to each perform a calculation on a random number and check their results against each other for authorization. This could only apply if the Central ID server is ITMS in this case, at which point we have a problem, since you can't change your definition half way though a patent.

The patent makes reference in some places to DOS commands. In one reference, it offers no alternative. This can easily means the patent was only meant to apply on DOS based systems.

wrecklass
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2005

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08/17, 03:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
Sigh

Of course he could win. There is a lot of misinformation going on here:

1) Patents are generally good for the life of the inventor, plus some grace period. There is no 7 year statute of limitation on Patents. The person may have taken this long because he needed to compare his patent to what these companies are doing.

2) If his arguments hold no water, why did Apple meet with him and try to settle out of court? Obviously Apple believes he may have a claim.

3) Patents are NOT based on first to implement. You can patent the design without ever building one. That allows you to protect your concept, giving you time to implement it at a later date.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

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08/17, 04:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Sigh

1) Patents are generally good for the life of the inventor, plus some grace period. There is no 7 year statute of limitation on Patents. The person may have taken this long because he needed to compare his patent to what these companies are doing.

Wrong. Copyrights are good for the life of the holder, plus some number of years (which keeps increasing everytime Disney's copyrights are about to expire). It was originally 20 years, not its like 70.

Patents are good for 17 years. I think you can file for an extension of 5 years, if you have a good reason (Columbia University tried this over some allergy medication they held the patent on, saying the money they made on the patent paid for the school, so it would be OK to extend it, as it would be for the children).

2) If his arguments hold no water, why did Apple meet with him and try to settle out of court? Obviously Apple believes he may have a claim.

Because its a h*** of a lot easier and cheaper to settle out of court then to battle in court, which, even if you win, you've spent two years paying lawyers money that might be more than the settlement in the first place. Plus you got the publicity. (This is why so many suits are settled out of court, and also why so many suits are filed. The people filing the suits want the settlement, they don't want to go to court. Investor lawsuits are quite known for this, because they hope the company will settle so the bad publicity doesn't tank the stock for the next two years).

Of course, I just love it when someone sues apple over a patent case. All the mac fanboys come out proclaiming what a crock it is, and all that. Then if Apple were to pull the same thing on someone else, say MS, it'd be "Allright, beat down on dem stealin' b*******!".

ender
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 1999

0

08/17, 05:45pm | report spam | close Reply |
Root of the Problem

Agree with the comments, but let's recognize that the US Patent Office should probably have never issued the patent in the first place! The lawyers who file patents and sue over them are smarter than the ones working for the patent office. And that leaves companies like Apple, Sony, etc stuck spending money defending against these frivolous claims. Why do you think they wait until iTunes becomes so successful? They are hoping the company will just pay them off to avoid the hassles and bad publicity. It's basically legalized blackmail!

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Apple, Sony, others named in DRM patent lawsuit

updated 08:20 am EDT, Wed August 17, 2005

Apple named in DRM lawsuit

yet another shyster

now that's a hoot -

Einstein...

Get rich quick claim

Where's his product?

Song????

umm

This is totally stupid.

shakes fist

yeah, right

Problems...

Sigh

Re: Sigh

Root of the Problem

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Apple, Sony, others named in DRM patent lawsuit

updated 08:20 am EDT, Wed August 17, 2005

Apple named in DRM lawsuit

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yet another shyster

now that's a hoot -

Einstein...

Get rich quick claim

Where's his product?

Song????

umm

This is totally stupid.

*shakes fist*

yeah, right

Problems...

Sigh

Re: Sigh

Root of the Problem

Login Here

Register for our weekly email newsletter:

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