This week President Obama is using Executive Order to try and stop Patent Trolls.
I don’t know if it will make any true impact at all (the Electronic Frontier Foundation thinks he could have gone further but seem to applaud several of the measures Obama is taking)- but I will say I hope something changes soon. Patent technology cases are out of control.
As mentioned at a session on podcasting I attended at SXSW, one particular patent owner is suing commercial podcasters for illegally using their patent without a license.
This American Life tracked down the company, Personal Audio, in When Patents Attack… Part Two! this past week. The owners of the patent, which was filed in 2009, are claiming they invented podcasting way back in 1995.
The only catch (according to This American Life and others): their company never made a digital podcast or invented a way to download a podcast into a listening device. They simply patented the idea that such a thing can be done. Now they’ve asked podcasters and companies who make mp3 players to pay them licensing fees.
While our podcast doesn’t make any money, I would hate to see us (and others) forced to pay someone licensing fees if we ever decided to make a commercial podcast — especially based on a very broad and general patent.
Listen to the This American Life podcast and then share what you think. Should me and my friends have to pay Personal Audio in order to license their idea?
Finally, if you want to get involved in fighting the podcast patent case, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is helping fight the case. You can get involved by donating, raising awareness or sharing examples of prior art (pre-1996).
