The Backpedaling Patent Troll Tried to Drop a Lawsuit
Never thought I would concern myself with a "patent troll" but this story over at Ars has me concerned. The article talks about how a company, Personal Audio, is trying to get money from a patent they hold describing "episodic content". This patent and applies to Podcasts and certain online videos where they are released on a regular basis.
As you know Podcasts work on the episode principle much like a written article. The Hardware Asylum Podcast and Ninjalane Podcast before that never indicated an episode number in the recording but, if you look carefully you can see what number we are on.
The article goes on in a typical "he said, she said" banter claiming that (Patent Troll) Personal Audio filed a lawsuit against Adam Carolla claiming he owed them money. Adam fought back and even asked his listeners to send in money to help pay his legal expenses. Personal Audio then dropped the lawsuit after realizing that Podcasters don't make much money. As it would turn out Adam didn't accept that and is still planning to go to court.
"Adam Carolla’s assertions that we would destroy podcasting were ludicrous on their face," said Personal Audio CEO Brad Liddle. "But it generated sympathy from fans and ratings for his show. Getting his fan base to continue to donate to his legal fund is a cynical exploitation of the publicity power he enjoys as an entertainer." He continued to say that Personal Audio was "quite surprised" Carolla turned down their offer:
Perhaps this is because he feels he can simply get his fans to fund his future and, now unnecessary, legal expenses. Or perhaps it relates to how he uses the case as material for his show. The fact of the matter is that Adam Carolla is asking people to donate money to him for a lawsuit that he no longer needs to defend. We would like his listeners to understand this situation when deciding whether or not to donate additional money to his cause.
According to Personal Audio, they've lost interest in suing podcasters because the podcasters—even one of Adam Carolla's size—just don't make enough money for it to care.
There is a principle involved here and I applaud Carolla in fighting to make sure Podcasts remain free (to a certain extent). Personal Audio is now attempting to tarnish his reptutation by claiming he is using listener money to fight a lawsuit he no longer needs to defend.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. I suspect that if Carolla wins then Personal Audio will lose their ability to troll on their 1996 patent. However, if Personal Audio wins then Carolla will end up paying the license fee and they will have free reign to request money from other famous, and not so famous, podcasters.
A tightrope on both sides.
Related Web URL: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/07/podcast...
