Genius or Troll? Patent Owner Sues Dozens Over Anti-Piracy Method
A patent holder who claims to own “signal abstraction” is going after companies that use basic anti-piracy techniques. The dispute has spawned dozens of lawsuits and raises questions yet again about the state of America’s patent system.
A Miami man who says he invented a form of cryptography to fight online piracy is suing Google, Shazam and dozens of others. Is this the second coming of code-breaking genius Alan Turing or just another patent troll?
The man in question is Scott Moskowitz. His company, Blue Spike LLC, has been furiously filing patent suits in East Texas against companies that use common digital water-marking techniques to prevent copyright infringement. His other targets include Sound Hound, Viggle, TuneSat and Facebook.
The lawsuits raise the question of whether Moskowitz should be rewarded with patent monopolies or whether he’s simply exploiting America’s troubled patent system.
Blue Spike’s legal filings explain that Moskowitz is “a pioneer in this new field between cryptography and signal analysis” and say that the “signal abstracting” he invented is a novel way to detect unlicensed music, text and films on the internet. Here is a more detailed description:
These are among the most effective techniques available for combating piracy, which are completely undetectable to the thief…Read the full story at Paidcontent.org
Related posts:
- German Anti-Piracy Firm Makes Case For Extortion
- App Developers Withdraw From U.S. As Patent Fears Reach ‘Tipping Point’
- Apple and RIM hit with patent suit for “drag,” “tap” and “scroll”
- CLIVE DAVIS & CARLOS SANTANA LAUNCH ANTI-PIRACY CAMPAIGN
- Motorola Wins A Round In Mobile Patent War Against Apple
Posted by Jeff Roberts
on Aug 29 2012. Filed under Digital, featured, Labels.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
