https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/help-save-podcasting
Help Save Podcasting!
We need your help to save podcasting. EFF is partnering with leading lawyers to
bust a key patent being used to threaten podcasters. But we need your help to
find prior art and cover the filing fees for a brand new patent busting
procedure.
A couple of months ago we wrote that podcasting was under threat from a patent
troll. At that time, a patent troll named Personal Audio LLC had sued three
podcasters and sent demand letters to a number of others. Since then, Personal
Audio has filed two new lawsuits—this time against CBS and NBC. It has also
sent additional demand letters to small podcasting operations. We’ve written
often in the past about how patent trolls are a drain on innovation, and this
latest troll is no exception. Since many podcasters barely make a profit, or
simply do it for love, a shakedown from a patent troll threatens to shut down
their program.
As with so many patent troll cases, the troll is asking for money despite
having contributed nothing to the industry. By its own admission, Personal
Audio tried and failed at its attempt to make an audio player. Having failed at
actually making something, it became a shell company that does nothing but sue
on its patents. And now it wants a handout from those who worked hard to create
popular podcasts.
We’d like to enlist your help to fight this troll. One way to defeat a troll is
to prove—either in court or at the patent office—that the claimed invention was
not new (or was obvious). In other words, show that the patent applicant didn’t
really invent anything. To do this, we need to find publications from before
October 2, 1996 that disclose similar or identical ideas (this also known as
prior art). The best prior art will include publications describing early
versions of podcasting or any other kind of episode distribution over the
Internet.
EFF is partnering with the Harvard’s Cyberlaw Clinic to investigate a challenge
to this patent at the patent office. The most likely procedure will involve a
new legal tool called the “Inter partes review” introduced by the America
Invents Act. If we are successful in this process, the patent gets invalidated
and Personal Audio would be unable to assert it against anybody.
For us to get started, we need your help—the filing fees charged by the US
Patent and Trademark Office for this kind of high-impact challenge are
relatively steep and there’s no way around them, even for an advocacy
non-profit like EFF. If you join us in fighting to save podcasting, we’ll be
able to bring a robust case straight to the US Patent and Trademark Office to
stop Personal Audio from doing any more damage to online broadcasters.
We’ve posted a detailed call for prior art at Ask Patents. That includes the
details about the patent claim being asserted and some examples of prior art we
have already located. Please visit that page and review it carefully. If you
know of any prior art, submit it there (or send it via email to
[email protected]). If you think you might be able to find prior art, search
for it. Since all of your submissions will be public, they can also be used by
others who are fighting back against Personal Audio in court. And please
forward this message far and wide. The more people that search, the more art we
will find.
It is not easy to fight patent trolls, but with your help, we can defeat this
patent and save podcasting.
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