RealNetworks Sues Burst, Seeking Judgment Saying It Doesn't Infringe
from the pre-empting-a-marshall-texas-lawsuit dept
We've covered the history of Burst.com and its questionable patents before. While the company was recently able to squeeze $10 million out of Apple, following the $60 million it got from Microsoft, speculation had begun on who the next target would be. In fact, apparently a Burst investor had started posting videos to YouTube trying to show how a variety of companies all infringed on Burst's patents. Of course, if we had a sane patent system, most people would look at this to suggest that the concepts in Burst's patents were fairly obvious and never should have received patent protection in the first place -- but that's not how things work these days. Among the companies listed in the videos were Google, AOL, Adobe and RealNetworks. Apparently, that was enough to worry RealNetworks, who has filed for a declaratory judgment in Northern California claiming that it does not infringe on Burst's patents. This was, by the way, the same strategy that Apple took (suing first) almost exactly two years ago. With so much fear of cases getting forced into Marshall, Texas, it's no surprise that those threatened would try to file for declaratory judgments on friendlier grounds. It will be interesting to see if Google, AOL or Adobe follow suit.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: declaratory judgment, patents, video streaming
Companies: burst, realnetworks
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Patent #6,925,469
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
techdirt imbeciles
each and very patented idea is obvious in Mike's humble opinion
yeha, he is fucking genious with some bs degree in PR or whatever bullshit they teach nowdays
Fucking waste of educational facilities
Mikey , do you even know what FFT stands for ?
How bout HHT ?
Well, that's a tough one, I admit
Good night clueless incest victims
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: techdirt imbeciles
How about you look up the patent you're trying to defend before you say something. In case you're also Lazy Dude as well as Angry, let me sum it up for you. You call a "Value added service" AKA tech support, and a person/machine keeps track of how much you are charged, your payment information, and sends that information to the value added service. Sounds like something I do every day. Seems kinda obvious to me. Hell, I didn't even know I was doing it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: techdirt imbeciles
as far as I remember Burst.com patents are all about streaming and they were very early
I have a shitload of work to do right now
Do your own homework punk
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: techdirt imbeciles
Do your own homework punk"
Then quit commenting on something that you haven't researched. Oh, and I did do the homework. How about you pay attention.
For the record there is no mention of streaming in the patent.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: techdirt imbeciles
you, sir, are positively a victim of an early abortion
Untreatable condition unfortunately
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: techdirt imbeciles
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: A.D.
Try to turn that frown upside down and have a nice day Angry Dude, smooches!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
this ones applies to you (just kidding)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
They have a point
[ link to this | view in chronology ]