Untitled
A Twitter follower alerted me to this post by the Electronic Frontier Foundation about a company that'sbeen awarded a patent on podcasting.
From the article:
... This patent could threaten the vibrant community of podcasters and millions of podcast listeners. We want to put a stop to it, but we need your help.
The Volomedia patent covers "a method for providing episodic media." It's a ridiculously broad patent, covering something that many folks have been doing for many years. Worse, it could create a whole new layer of ongoing costs for podcasters and their listeners. Right now, just about anyone can create their own on-demand talk radio program, earning an audience on the strength of their ideas. But more costs and hassle means that podcasting could go the way of mainstream radio -- with only the big guys able to afford an audience. And we'd have a bogus patent to blame.
In order to bust this patent, we are looking for additional "prior art" -- or evidence that the podcasting methods described in the patent were already in use before November 19, 2003. In particular, we're looking for written descriptions of methods that allow a user to download pre-programmed episodic media like audio files or video files from a remote publisher, with the download occurring after the user subscribes to the episodes, and with the user continuing to automatically receive new episodes.
On Volomedia's Web site they say they filed for the patent Nov. 17, 2003 " almost a year before the start of podcasting," they say. "VoloMedia's intent is to continue to work collaboratively with key participants in the industry, leveraging its unique range of products to further grow and accelerate the market. "
Has anyone here been at it since before November 2003?
I'm not sure whether this actually is a threat to independent podcasters as the EFF seems to think, or not. But it probably is an issue worth watching.
