Tune Hunter sues the big names in music
AN OUTFIT called Tune Hunter has accused a raft of companies including music-search service Shazam plus Apple, Amazon, Napster, Samsung, Motorola, Gracenote, Verizon Wireless, LG Electronics, AT&T Mobility, and Pantech Wireless of nicking its idea for a music identification system.
Tune Hunter said its Patent No. 6,941,275, which was issued to Remi Swierczek of Tune Hunter in September 2005 is infringed by Shazam's music discovery and identification service. Shazam's technology is used by all of the other outfits named in its lawsuit, Tune Hunter claims.
Tune Hunter is asking for unspecified damages and an injunction from the patent plaintiffs' friendly U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Texas that would prevent "further infringement" of its patent.
Looking closer at the patent it appears that it covers "a music identification [and] purchasing system, specifically to a method for marking the time and the name of the radio station in [a] portable device such as a key holder, watch, cellular phone, beeper or the like which will allow the user to learn via internet or regular telephone the name of the song, artist and/or music company by matching the stored data with [a] broadcast archive."
Cnet reports that London-based Shazam is partnered by Samsung and it has a popular Iphone application sold through Apple's App Store, which "listens" to songs and identifies them. It also has links to Amazon.com, Napster, and Gracenote.
It seems that Tune Hunter forgot to sue Research In Motion's BlackBerry, Facebook, and Android which also use Shazam. µ
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The story isn't right in terms of what the patent protects - the story uses text from the Abstract of the patent, when instead you need to look at the claims, which are here: http://patft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=6941275
Neither of the claims mentions the time and date the music was recorded, and instead they basically cover the broad concept of recording and transmitting music from your mobile to a music identification service.
So you can see why they think that their patent is being infringed.
Just your usual vague US patent then...
If they have had this patent since 2005, where is there product?
I did have some dealings with the shazam guys, when they were working on their proof of concept. I worked in the computer telephony trade at the time.
2005 sounds about right, could be a bit of close one.
The patent most definitely covers the precise mechanism that Shazam uses.
The patent was applied for in 2000 and I remember my mate demonstrating Shazam to me in late 2002. Patent granted in 2005.
Not sure how that works in the courts, though. Presumably their case relies on the patent's submission date?
Gilbo -
The patent application actually goes back to 7 Oct 1999, and the inventor even took advantage of some quirks in US law which allowed him to effectively backdate the invention to prior to 21 Sep 1999 and possibly even late May/early June 1999.
So that dealt with everything that the exainer could find. Guess that it will primarily be a question of whether anybody else can come up with some earlier disclosures. I'm sure that this one will drag on for some time.