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Legal
Spotify sued over streaming patent
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 29 July 2011
Well, if you will launch in the US, I guess you have to expect to be sued, it sort of goes with the territory. Spotify has been sued by San Diego-based PacketVideo, which claims that the popular streaming music service is infringing two of its patents covering streaming technology.
PacketVideo was one of the early stars in the streaming technology domain, though it has not been so high profile of late. The patents the company claims Spotify infringes on exist in both Europe and the US, and were actually registered in the mid-1990s by a Swiss company that PacketVideo acquired four years ago. The firm says it has tried to enter into negotiations with Spotify about licensing its patented methods of streaming, but that talks failed. It is now suing in both the Netherlands and San Diego.
A legal rep for the company said in a statement: “PacketVideo has a strong intellectual property portfolio, and will take any necessary action needed to protect its intellectual property and prevent the misuse of its patents”. The digital firm wants an injunction against Spotify and damages.
A spokesman for Spotify said the streaming music company would fight the legal action, telling reporters: “PacketVideo is claiming that by distributing music over the internet, Spotify (and by inference any other similar digital music service) has infringed one of the patents that has previously been acquired by PacketVideo. Spotify is strongly contesting PacketVideo’s claim”.
