Claim on web video, sues 14 big media companies

On October 11, Bartonfalls filed patent lawsuits against Ziff Davis (the owners of PC Magazine), Viacom, Advance Publications (over the website for GQ; GQ and Ars are both owned by Conde Nast, which is in turn owned by Advance Publications), Scripps Networks (HGTV), Bloomberg, Allrecipes.com, NBC Universal, Turner Broadcasting, the New York Times Company, Forbes, ABC, Discovery, CBS, and Consumers Union (Consumer Reports).

Each claims that websites owned by these large publishers violate the '922 patent because when a viewer is done watching an online video, their video players cue up another video and automatically start playing it when the first video ends. Love this feature or hate it, it's an extremely common way of serving up online video.

"We are in the process of hiring counsel and will vigorously fight this claim," said one defendant "We plan to work with the other companies that were sued to challenge the patents."

Ars Technica

Compiling Successful IP Solutions for Software Developers (Video)

Patent eligibility for software has been in a state of flux ever since the 2014 US Supreme Court ruling in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International. Attorneys Seth Northrop and David Prange discuss the two-step framework for software patentability in a post-Alice world, recommended strategies for software patent holders, and options for protecting intellectual property outside the patent system.

Seth Northrop, David Prange. Robins Kaplan LLP

OpenTV Sues Apple, Alleging Patent Infringement

Interactive television pioneer OpenTV has sued Apple, alleging that the Cupertino technology giant infringed on its patents. The civil suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, alleges that several Apple products and services violate five of OpenTV’s patents related to streaming digital video. The San Francisco company is asking the court to award it unspecified compensation for Apple’s alleged infringement.

Dawn Chmielewski, Re/code

Meanwhile, other reports include:

Interactive television pioneer OpenTV has sued Apple, alleging that the Cupertino technology giant infringed on its patents. The civil suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court, alleges that several Apple products and services violate five of OpenTV’s patents related to streaming digital video. The San Francisco company is asking the court to award it unspecified compensation for Apple’s alleged infringement.

Joe Rossignol, Macrumours

Background

OpenTV was an early entrant in the arena of digital television industry, it provides middleware, which enables set top boxes to be interactive with the users. The company’s software was among the first few to provide Internet browser in TV. Presently, OpenTV is providing software solutions that enable video on-demand services and digital video recorders. In accordance with the complaint filed by the firm in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, OpenTV is asking the court to grant it undisclosed compensation for Apple’s alleged infringement. These patents were registered by the OpenTV in 1990s and early 2000s.

Zara Ali, Ubergizmo

Drafting US Software Patents Post-Alice

It has been a challenging year for software patent owners following the US Supreme Court’s decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International.

Since then, a large number of software patents have been invalidated in the US courts. So what should inventors do if they are seeking to file a patent in today’s legal environment?

In this video, Robins Kaplan LLP attorneys Seth Northrop and Sam Walling discuss the current state of affairs and offer some advice.

Source

Patenting non-tech ideas may get harder

In 2008, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded Ultramercial with Patent No. 7,346,545, describing the process in which a consumer, rather than paying for a product like a video, may “choose to receive such products after viewing and/or interacting with an interposed sponsor’s or advertiser’s message.”

Ultramercial had applied for the patent in 2001. Last week, the Supreme Court set aside an earlier ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that had allowed Ultramercial’s patent and permitted the firm to pursue a lawsuit against WildTangent. The high court told the federal circuit to reconsider its decision.

Michelle Quinn POLITICO.com

Microsoft patent on PVR Functions in Game Console

It completely eludes me how this isn't prior art. Microsoft's Xbox is a PC and PCs have been able to record digital video in the background for a long long time. Myth TV comes to mind.

A digital video recorder (DVR) application running alongside a television client component allows users to record media content on the gaming console. The DVR application also integrates itself with the console menu. Once integrated, users can record media content while playing games. Alternatively, users can record content when the gaming console is turned off.

Gizmodo UK

US Justice Department investigates Web video group

Stephen Shankland at CNET News has reported that the US DOJ is investigating whether the actions of patent licensing group MPEG LA are stifling the Google VP8 video encoding technology. The problem seems to be that MPEG LA is actively seeking businesses with patents related to V8 to see if it can assemble a patent pool like the H264 pool. The complaint is that by publicly doing this, they are scaring businesses away from adopting V8 for fear that they may be faced with excessive royalty charges in the future and using this fear to unfairly force people to licence H.264.

There's a lot of background on the MPEG patents history and some interesting quotes from people who have previously attempted to break the H.264 licensing model

On2 (2002):

"'MPEG-4 is trying to monopolize the substantially software-based interactive video compression industry, plain and simple,' ... 'It is a move by a few very large companies to dominate a market and fix prices. Recent pricing policies by MPEG LA for MPEG-4, and the customer reaction to them are ample evidence of this.'"

Nero (2010):

"'Absolute power has corrupted MPEG LA absolutely,' said Nero, which makes CD- and DVD-burning software, in its complaint. 'Once MPEG LA obtained monopoly power in the relevant technology markets, it used that power to willfully maintain or extend its monopolies for years beyond their natural expiration...and administer its licenses in an unfair, unreasonable, and discriminatory manner that stifles competition and innovation, and harms consumers.'"

Article...

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Red Hat and Software Patents (Video)

By Roy Schestowitz Two seniors from Red Hat and their views on Red Hat's patents.

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An Introduction to EU Council Decision Making

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By admin Google Videos 04.10.2006 A summary of the EU Council of Ministers meeting of 18 May 2004 where the (now rejected) software patents directive was discussed. The ... all >> European Parliament heavily amended the original Commission proposal ...

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Software patents underlie a novel open source business model (video)

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Software patents underlie a novel open source business model (video) By Catarina "Software patents are evil." Ask almost any free or open source software advocate, and they'll you that software patents kill creativity and keep computer science from advancing as rapidly as it would if everyone shared their basic work ...

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