EFF Launches Full-Court Press To Bust Podcasting Patent
May 30, 2013 | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Campaign Will Use Crowd-Power and New Law to Invalidate Patent Trolls’ Claim
San Francisco - The patent trolls have gone far enough: Starting today, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is mounting
a new, focused campaign
to bust the dangerous patent that a Texas company has been using to
shakedown podcasters. EFF intends to challenge the original grant of
that patent before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by proving that
the company, Personal Audio, did not really invent anything new.
Claiming it owns the patent that broadly covers podcasting
technology, Personal Audio is the classic example of a patent troll that
neither makes nor sells anything, but uses its patent as a weapon to
threaten lawsuits and extort settlement fees. This particular troll has
bullied prominent podcasts and podcasters, including How Stuff Works and
Adam Carolla, in addition to smaller podcasters working out of their
own homes.
"Patent trolls have been wreaking havoc on innovative companies for
some time now," said EFF Staff Attorney Julie Samuels, who also holds
the Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents. "But this particular
breed of troll—targeting end users, small businesses, startups, and even
individuals like podcasters for simply using everyday products—is a
disturbing new threat."
EFF is partnering with the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard's
Berkman Center for Internet and Society
to use a new legal tool against this patent called the "inter partes
review," which was introduced by the America Invents Act. The first step
is to identify "
prior art,"
or published examples of similar or identical ideas, that existed
before October 2, 1996. EFF is putting out a call today to the
podcasting community to spread the word and help us collect the prior
art we need to fight this dangerous patent. EFF is also looking for
financial support to take on this challenge, which—even with pro bono help—will likely cost nearly $30,000.
"A podcaster working out of a garage is unlikely to have the
financial resources to fight a lawsuit," said EFF Staff Attorney Daniel
Nazer. "Patent trolls like Personal Audio know this and use the threat
of ruinous litigation costs as a weapon. Defeating this patent at the
PTO would put an end to Personal Audio's campaign."
Because of the deep and systemic problems in the American patent
system, EFF is spearheading the Defend Innovation project to advocate
for reform. EFF is asking the public to sign on to our petition at
defendinnovation.org and to comment on seven recommended proposals we
think would make the broken system work better for software. In the
meantime, EFF is doing its best to rid the world of one more bad patent
in the hands of a patent troll and help out podcasters who find
themselves staring down the barrel of a gun.
For more on the Save Podcasting campaign:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/05/help-save-podcasting
For technical details of the search for prior art:
http://patents.stackexchange.com/questions/3884/call-for-prior-art-system-for-disseminating-media-content-representing-episodes
Donate to fund this campaign:
https://supporters.eff.org/donate/save-podcasting
Julie Samuels
Staff Attorney and The Mark Cuban Chair to Eliminate Stupid Patents
Electronic Frontier Foundation
julie@eff.org
Daniel Nazer
Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
daniel@eff.org
