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Amazon sued for patent infringement

http://www8.zdnet.com/filters/printerfriendly/0,6061,2542378-54,00.html

By Margaret Kane, ZDNN April 13, 2000 4:12 PM PT

URL: http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/stories/news/0,4153,2542378,00.html

Amazon.com Inc., which has been under fire for making certain controversial patent claims, is now being sued by a San Francisco- based music firm for, of all things, patent violation.

Intouch Group Inc., which filed the suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco earlier this week, alleges that Amazon, as well as four other firms, violated a patent governing the way consumers sample music online.

The patent, referred to as a "network apparatus and method for preview of music products and compilation of market data," was granted to Intouch in October 1999. This extended an earlier patent that dealt with kiosks placed in music stores. Intouch's kiosk system, the iStation, allows users to listen to samples of songs before purchasing CDs. It also allows businesses to gather users' demographic data through a registration process.

But company CEO Joshua Kaplan said the patent goes beyond simply playing songs online.

"It covers (a user) going onto a site and requesting to listen to pre- selected portions of pre-recorded music -- anything from sample up to full track," he said. Kaplan said the patent does not pertain to music issued by record companies. But because much of the technology used to transmit audio files over the Net requires the songs to be altered in some way, the patent effectively covers most online music transmission.

Amazon did not immediately return calls for comment. Liquid Audio Inc., Listen.com and Warner Brother's Entertaindom declined comment. Discovermusic.com officials said the company is reviewing the case with its attorneys.

Intouch wants the court to grant an injunction that forbids the defendants from violating the patent, and it asks for unspecified damages.

Growing patent controversy

Patent suits, particularly ones involving business methods rather than straight technology, have been the source of much controversy in the tech community.

Ironically, Amazon.com has been at the heart of much of that controversy. The software retailer has taken out patents on its one- click ordering method and affiliate marketing technique. It also filed suit against some competitors to protect its technology.

That triggered a storm of criticism. CEO Jeff Bezos subsequently issued a public letter calling on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to rethink the way it issues business-method and software patents.

The appeal seems to have worked. The Patent Office said earlier this month it is considering a makeover that would include efforts to revamp the way in which those patents are granted.

However, Bezos has so far not indicated any willingness to give up his company's patents. Indeed, Amazon is continuing with efforts to prosecute alleged violators of its patents.

"It's going to be interesting whether he's willing to stand behind those words," Intouch's Kaplan said of Bezos.

Technology catches on

Kaplan defended his company's patent, saying he has spent years developing the technology for a specific application.

"The difference is that we spent $30 million building a business. We've been doing this for 10 years, and we patented that system. The only difference was we amended it to cover a networked version of what we did earlier," he said.

"When we initially got (the patent) in 1993, people said 'Who's going to subscribe to a service to listen to pre-selected music? What a narrow patent. It's worthless.' But in 10 years the industry has moved in our direction. What was once an extremely narrow patent has become broader."

He said Intouch had notified about 30 companies last year that it had applied for the patent.

"We weren't going out there with a big stick and saying 'Let's try to get these people to do this,'" he said. "This is just in the sprit of understanding intellectual property."

Es duerfte sich wohl um US-A-5,963,916 vom 05. Oktober 1999 handeln. Der Patentanspruch 1 lautet:

<ANSPRUCH> 1. A method for enabling a remote user to preview a portion of a pre- recorded music product from a network web site containing pre- selected portions of different pre-recorded music products, using a computer, a computer display and a telecommunications link between the remote user's computer and the network web site, the method comprising the steps of:

a) using the remote user's computer to establish a telecommunications link to the network web site wherein the network web site comprises (i) a central host server coupled to a communications network for retrieving and transmitting the pre-selected portion of the pre- recorded music product upon request by a remote user and (ii) a central storage device for storing pre-selected portions of a plurality of different pre-recorded music products;

b) transmitting user identification data from the remote user's computer to the central host server thereby allowing the central host server to identify and track the user's progress through the network web site;

c) choosing at least one pre-selected portion of the pre-recorded music products from the central host server;

d) receiving the chosen pre-selected portion of the pre-recorded products; and

e) interactively previewing the received chosen pre-selected portion of the pre-recorded music product. </ANSPRUCH>

Die Patentanmeldung hat schon eine bewegte Geschichte hinter sich:

This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/668,327 filed on Jun. 26, 1996 ABANDONED which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/282,153 filed on Jul. 28, 1994 abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/035,661 filed on Mar. 23, 1993 abandoned, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/957,444 filed on Oct. 6, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,157, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/582,253 filed on Sep. 13, 1990 abondoned.

In nuce geht dieses Patent also auf eine U.S.-Patentanmeldung aus dem Jahre 1990 (!) zurueck, die dann x-mal nach dortigem Patentrecht abgestorben und dann (wohl mit hinzugefuegter "new matter"?!) als "continuation" weitergefuehrt worden ist.

--AHH

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