Good news for iBiquity et al.: a simmering fight with patent trolls seeking recompense from hundreds of broadcasters and auto manufacturers over their implementation of HD Radio has been quashed.
The trolls folded first. On April 23, Delaware Radio Technologies and Wyncomm LLC notified the Federal District Court in Delaware that they wanted to terminate their lawsuits “with prejudice,” meaning they cannot be refiled. iBiquity, who countersued the trolls last year, moved for dismissal of its case on May 6. Continue reading “Patent Troll Gives Up on HD Radio”
Tag: wyncomm
Patent Troll Suffers Setback in HD Lawsuits
A judge in Delaware’s federal District Court has put the brakes on a patent troll’s carpetbombing of the radio industry. For those just tuning in, some ambiguous firms in Delaware acquired some old AT&T patents that vaguely describe digital data transmission. Armed with these, the firms filed a slew of lawsuits in 2013 against broadcasters who’ve deployed HD Radio technology, claiminng that the system infringes on their intellectual property.
iBiquity Digital Corporation, HD’s proprietor, filed a counterclaim last year seeking the dismissal of the trolls’ crusade and the voiding of its patent claims. If the trolls want to bilk anybody, iBiquity is the logical target, as it controls all of its intellectual property with a firm hand. Furthermore, the station’s license agreement with broadcasters indemnifies stations against such claims. Continue reading “Patent Troll Suffers Setback in HD Lawsuits”
iBiquity Lawyers Up to Defend Patents and Business Model
It’s been a busy year for iBiquity Digital Corporation in court, as it fends off attacks on its HD Radio patents and licensing structure. In both cases, iBiquity seems to have dodged a few bullets and may even have the upper hand. However, they also illustrate the tenuous nature of HD’s adoptive trajectory. Continue reading “iBiquity Lawyers Up to Defend Patents and Business Model”
HD Radio Gets Trolled
HD Radio finds itself under attack in the courts from an unlikely agitator: the patent troll.
What is a patent troll? In a nutshell, they are scumbag bottom-feeders in the land of intellectual property law. Patent troll companies have no real business; they buy up existing patents and then launch campaigns of lawsuits against others that are using "their" technology, claiming that the defendants have violated "their" intellectual property rights.
The idea is to intimidate defendants into making quick settlements, avoiding a potentially costly lawsuit. Even though their claims often have no legal merit—or the patent itself is so vague as to be difficult to define—companies targeted by patent trolls will often settle just to get the nuisance out of their hair. While this might be tactically acceptable, it sets a terrible strategic legal precedent, as it gives a patent troll more courage to continue and expand their campaigns.
Legal scholars have estimated that patent trolls raked in some $29 billion from their nefarious activities in 2011. That same year, WBEZ’s This American Life produced an excellent episode that breaks down patent trolls and their modus operandi. The top five patent trolls in the country have collectively sued several thousand companies large and small over the last five years.
In the case of HD Radio, earlier this month a Delaware-based patent troll named Wyncomm, LLC, representing its "subsidiary," Delaware Radio Technologies (for all intents and purposes, both are shells established for the purposes of patent-trolling), sued several broadcasters using HD Radio. The primary patent at issue was initially awarded to AT&T in 1996 and covers "side channel communications in simultaneous voice and data transmission." The patent itself vaguely refers to telephony and wireless data services. Continue reading “HD Radio Gets Trolled”