Hulu Sued For Violating 'TV Guide' Patent

from the because-without-that,-no-one-would-have-thought-of-it dept

Tue, Aug 2nd 2011 12:14pm — Mike Masnick

Earlier this year, we noted that Rovi (the hip new name for DRM company Macrovision) had taken a bunch of the patents it got when it bought Gemstar/TV Guide a few years back, and sued Amazon for daring to offer a TV listing on IMDB. Apparently Rovi is having so much fun suing people for doing totally obvious things that it's expanded the effort and is now suing Hulu as well. It's interesting to see that it's actually using different patents in this case, compared to in the Amazon case, but that doesn't make them any less questionable:

6,396,546: "Electronic television program guide schedule system and method"
7,103,906: "User controlled multi-device media-on-demand system"
7,769,775: "Search engine for video and graphics with access authorization"

Yet another case where actually doing the obvious thing to provide the obvious service you want to offer... gets you sued. America's innovation system at work.

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Filed Under: patents, tv guide
Companies: gemstar, hulu, macrovision, rovi

27 Comments

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Stephen, 2 Aug 2011 @ 12:37pm

Hmm.. Maybe...
Maybe I can patent a system in which it is used so that one party may be able to sue another party, and then I can send letters to both those parties for suing each other in violation of my patent...
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Mitch Featherston, 2 Aug 2011 @ 12:45pm

Unbelievable
I guess it's easier for companies to sue or threaten legal action than to actually innovate. At some point, this has to end. How long does a technology/software patent last?
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- E. Zachary Knight (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:05pm
  
  Re: Unbelievable
  Unfortunately 20 years. Far longer than the technologies they cover last. However, that has never stopped a patent holder from suing people using 19 year old patents.
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- MikeC (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:24pm
  
  Re: Unbelievable
  for all intents and purposes patents these days seem to last indefinitely, every time a ton are about to expire a way is found to keep them patented
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  - Richard (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:57pm
    
    Re: Re: Unbelievable
    for all intents and purposes patents these days seem to last indefinitely, every time a ton are about to expire a way is found to keep them patented
    
    Usually by just filing another patent that says the same thing in different words.
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Mitch Featherston, 2 Aug 2011 @ 12:45pm

Unbelievable
I guess it's easier for companies to sue or threaten legal action than to actually innovate. At some point, this has to end. How long does a technology/software patent last?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Ninja (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 12:51pm

I should sue you for the patent 6,666,666: "Blog for unbelievable moronic things you see in the world". That's actually not a patent but probably some sort of copyright (or trademark for the heck of it) but I'll sue anyway.
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- E. Zachary Knight (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:04pm
  
  Re:
  Sorry, Patent 6,666,666 is for a multi chamber positive displacement fluid device.
  
  http://www.wikipatents.com/US-Patent-6666666/multi-chamber-positive-displacement-fluid-device
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:05pm

Sorry Mike
I've applied for a patent for 'bitching on the internet.'
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:14pm

hulu sucks
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- E. Zachary Knight (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:17pm
  
  Re:
  Hulu is awesome. It is the people controlling Hulu and its content that suck.
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SUNWARD (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:17pm

last one
was granted in August 2010. (applied for in 2007)

Like no one was doing searches in 2007?
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- Chris, 13 Sep 2011 @ 8:40pm
  
  Re: last one
  No kidding...I was using my computer as a DVR as far back as 2003/2004 and two guesses where my guide data came from and the first doesn't count.
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Lirodon, 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:19pm

Prior art:

Every single Excel spreadsheet and every single event planning book.
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- Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:27pm
  
  Re:
  Screw Excel, how about TV Guide? The first one was published in 1953. Adding "on the Internet" is not a new invention.
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  - JEDIDIAH, 3 Aug 2011 @ 7:07am
    
    The problem with software...
    The problem with software patents is that they ultimately break down into algorithms that don't necessarily have any thing to do with computers. You can implement these techniques in the absence of a computing machine.
    
    A copy of TV Guide from 1953 is a great example of this.
    
    So you end up with new patents on 50 year old "technology".
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Nicedoggy, 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:55pm

There is a lot of prior art on epguides.com

http://epguides.com/FAQ/related.html

Good times, I don't use that anymore but some people may find it useful.

on-my.tv for example started in 2005.
tVDB is probably also but not sure.
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drewmerc (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 1:57pm

BBC's Radio Times was first issued on 28 September 1923
altho i have not looked i'm sure it had tv listing's once tv started
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trish, 2 Aug 2011 @ 2:25pm

hmmmm....
I remember the tv schedule off the top of my head. Does the storage of TV guide information in my brain constitute a violation of these patents?
On a side note, how many patents do you think the human brain infringes on? "Device and system for analysis and storage of life events as sensory input information", "Device and system for the control of bodily functions through electrical impulses to the nervous system (patent pending)" ...?
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Aug 2011 @ 3:14pm

Yahoo
I wonder if this is why Yahoo dumped their tv listings.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Aug 2011 @ 5:04pm

it's always obvious after someone shows you how to do it.
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- Brendan (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 11:15pm
  
  Re:
  It's obvious if you think about the problem at hand and combine with pedestrian knowledge of web hosting and relaional databases.
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  - JEDIDIAH, 3 Aug 2011 @ 7:27am
    
    Web Hosting and Relational Databases
    The TV Guide grid from 1953 can be thought of as a single SQL query.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
gorehound (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 5:18pm

I am now unemployed and need money.Maybe I should think of some ridiculous patent and then I can sue me some Companies and make a ton of money.

Wait I won't.I am not a scumbag
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- The Devil's Coachman (profile), 3 Aug 2011 @ 8:14am
  
  Re:
  You can learn to be a scumbag, simply by watching companies such as Rovi, which seems to be populated entirely by scumbags. They can teach you a thing or two about how to be a sub-human parasite, as well as some tips on how to get blood out of turnips, and how to be a complete drag on society, while serving no useful purpose whatsoever. Look, watch, learn. They have a lot to show you, and you probably ain't seen nothing yet.
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ECA (profile), 2 Aug 2011 @ 6:11pm

WTF
So I can create a BASIC spread sheet format...
Go out and ADD, info from the Internet channels direct to it..WITH PERMISSION
SORT it by TIME OF SHOW, per channel...

ANd these guys have a patent on a spread sheet.????
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- The Devil's Coachman (profile), 3 Aug 2011 @ 8:15am
  
  Re: WTF
  They also have a patent on corporate parasitism.
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