Spotify's 1st US lawsuit?
 

European digital music service Spotify has re-ignited the U.S. music business since it opened up shop on these shores two weeks ago. Hype and Twitter-based excitement have gone into over-drive as users have sought out valuable Spotify invites for the partly free on-demand music service.

It?s not been an easy ride getting here for Spotify and founder Daniel Ek (pictured, right). For one thing, there had been two years of testy, and presumably expensive, music licensing negotiations with the major record labels. Still, they got here, only to now find that one of the other common distractions of US technology business is threatening to spoil the party: A patent lawsuit.

Spotify was sued by PacketVideo Corp for patent infringement for of its United States Patent No. 5,636,276 entitled ?Device for the Distribution of Music in Digital Form?. The suit was filed at the US District Court, Southern District of California on Wednesday (Case No: ?11CV1659 IEG)

http://blogs.reuters.com/mediafile/2...ith-a-lawsuit/

Patent trolls! As Techdirt, who covered this earlier, points out the patent is rather broad so other offenders could include everyone from Apple and Android to Nokia and Samsung.


Welcome to America!

So my snail mail carrier, is patented? He qualifies as a "Device for the Distribution of Music in Digital Form".

I've seen him bring my CD's I've ordered online. CD's are digital.

My computer is a "Device for the Distribution of Music in Digital Form".

Basically, spotify has made something cool, PacketVido made nothing cool, so they sue Spotify because they are useless on their own.

I'm not sure what all the hype is about. For truly unlimited streaming with no ads, it's about $10. That's the same I have been paying to Napster for years and I can load unlimited songs on my mp3 player and like 5 computers, phones, etc.

I guess if you want ads and limited options, spotify is free.

This is the new standard isn't it? Just sue people. Come up with an idea, be broad about it, and then sue anyone who does it.

Creating a patent and waiting around for someone else to develop it so they can sue them for infringement is as old as patenting. Some people make a business of it.