Troll Thwarted, Podcasters Cross Bridge
Podcasting has risen steadily in popularity over the last few years and the recent ruling against patent holding company Personal Audio LLC suggests that podcasting could experience even more growth in the coming years. High profile podcasts, Adam Corolla’s show probably being the most prominent, were targeted by Personal Audio LLC under the dubious claim that they owned a technological patent on the on the basic distribution of podcasts.
This claim, while seemingly absurd on technical merit, was most likely part of a strategy to harass podcasters and force them to settle for a much smaller amount than the original claim just to avoid the annoyance, cost, and time to defend against the claim. The judge, however, ruled that the supposed patent was not valid in the first place and was therefor unenforceable.
This does not end the fight against patent trolls but it does strike a blow for the good guys. It also gave some attention to podcasts that, for many listeners, were just another category to be ignored in iTunes.
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