Ameritrade Knew About Data Leak Long Before It Told Customers

Playlist Patented... Everyone Sued... But Did Apple Pay Up?

from the sounds-like-it dept

Mon, Sep 17th 2007 1:32pm — Mike Masnick

A bunch of folks have been submitting the latest story on a patent hoarding firm, Premier International Associates, who appears to have absolutely no other business than getting its hands on questionable, overly broad, obvious patents and then suing everyone possible. In this case, the patent is for the basic concept of a playlist, which can be found just about anywhere. So, it should come as little to no surprise that the list of companies sued is quite long, including: Microsoft, Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Dell, Lenovo, Toshiba, Viacom, Real, Napster, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Sandisk, HP, Acer, Gateway and Yahoo (phew!). That's quite a list, though it's not surprising to see that there are a ton of companies offering software that has a concept so basic and so obvious as a playlist.

However, there is one very interesting point here. Apple is missing from the list. As the folks over at Ars Technica figured out, Premier actually had sued Apple about this same patent back in 2005, but at the same time it was filing all these new patent lawsuits it filed to dismiss the Apple suit, suggesting that Apple most likely paid off the company (perhaps giving it the money needed to suddenly sue every other company in the universe. Apple certainly has a history of doing this. When the company was sued on a rather similar obvious patent on a hierarchical menu-based user interfaces held by Creative, it eventually (after spending some time fighting it) decided to simply pay $100 million to be left alone. Of course, all that did was allow Creative to head out and sue plenty of others. Sound familiar? By settling on these questionable patent claims, all Apple is doing is encouraging more lawsuits of this nature for itself, as well as others.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: patent trolls, patents, playlists
Companies: apple, at&t, dell, lenovo, microsoft, napster, real, sprint, toshiba, verizon, viacom

23 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

RandomThoughts, 17 Sep 2007 @ 1:35pm

I would think a hundred mil would buy a lot of lawyers. Wonder why they settled? A hundred mil here, a hundred mil there, soon you are talking real money.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Vincent Clement (profile), 17 Sep 2007 @ 4:07pm
  
  Re:
  Many of these patent hoarders are lawyers.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
TheDock22, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:06pm

I had a playlist....
I used to keep a physical list of my movies on a piece of paper and would re-order my list using post-it notes of what I wanted to watch. The next logical step would be to digitalize it. Can I sue those companies too?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- R3d Jack, 17 Sep 2007 @ 3:06pm
  
  Re: I had a playlist....
  No, but they are going to sue you!
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Craig, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:09pm

Sounds like kidnapping
This sounds a lot like the rationale for not paying terrorists' ransoms for kidnapping victims, as the money only fuels the terrorists' other activities. Of course, to the family whose loved one is in jeopardy, that matters very little.

Here, we have a company whose product is basically threatened until the firm pays the ransom in the form of a licensing fee. Then the holding company uses those funds to terrorize other "infringers."

So...when do the airstrikes start on Premier International Associates' headquarters?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- ZeTron, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:38pm
  
  Re: Sounds like kidnapping
  Good analogy Craig; I agree fully.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
jon, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:13pm

I'd like to see that patent! Playlists have been around since the early days of radio
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
hugh, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:14pm

its like dealing with terrorists
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:42pm
  
  Re:
  way to steal someone else's analogy, butcher it and contribute absolutely nothing to the discussion. You make yourself sound oh so intelligent.
  
  Digression aside, its time to bring in the conspiracy theory that this 'firm' is actually an Apple front!
  
  Possible, but would be damn stupid on their part.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - R3d Jack, 17 Sep 2007 @ 3:09pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Stupidity is the foundation of any good conspiracy theory. Yours may actually reach Urban Legend status.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
- ConceptJunkie (profile), 17 Sep 2007 @ 5:36pm
  
  Re:
  No, it _is_ dealing with terrorists.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:38pm

does that mean we can have the US military invade Premier International Associates' headquarters and torture their employees?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward #2, 17 Sep 2007 @ 5:40pm
  
  Re:
  I agree!!! I think that the US military should invade Premier International Associates' headquarters and torture their employees.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tim, 17 Sep 2007 @ 2:49pm

honey-do list
Don't get any ideas I've already submitted my patent application! Or maybe my wife has?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Sep 2007 @ 3:29pm

But Apple is a religion. Don't say anything against them or you will go to "uncool" hell.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Kevin, 17 Sep 2007 @ 3:34pm

re:
I made a Grocery List the other day. I suppose I need to obtain counsel for the enevitable.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Joe, 17 Sep 2007 @ 3:34pm

Let's face it, these law suites are nothing more than people trying to make millions the only way the know how, and that is suing other companies with millions for what ever reason they can come up with.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Joseph, 17 Sep 2007 @ 3:52pm

Playlist.............
After more than 30 years on the road banging on a keyboard or a piano I guess our playlists are next, and just when I retired. I worked as a very gifted paralegal for 12 years and this just reminds me why I dont miss the profession.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 17 Sep 2007 @ 4:19pm
  
  Re: Playlist.............
  "I worked as a very gifted paralegal" If you don't say so yourself....
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 17 Sep 2007 @ 4:03pm

I'm waiting for someone to get sued over digital post it notes
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Davin Peterson, 18 Sep 2007 @ 9:06am

Creative is also missing from the list
Not only Apple, but Creative is noticeably missing from the list. Creative invented the iPod interface and gets no recogition. Several of their Zen players support playlists.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Whoa., 18 Sep 2007 @ 3:57pm

Smart
Smart Apple. In an evil way. What do you expect..sigh.

Speaking of Apple, my iPod broke two weeks after my one year warranty ran out. I know several people who've had the same complaint. And unlike most electronic products, the iPod apparently can't be fixed. You can only turn in your useless dead one for a a little discount on a brand new one. It's a conspiracy. If I'd know the thing would only last a year, I wouldn't have spent over $100 on it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- marry, 1 Dec 2008 @ 4:15am
  
  Re: Smart
  After more than 30 years on the road banging on a keyboard or a piano I guess our playlists are next, and just when I retired. I worked as a laptop AC adapter very gifted paralegal for 12 years and this just reminds me why I dont miss the profession.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]