MRT takes another shot at Apple
p2pnet news | DRM:- Ignoring, “all common sense and the laws of nature,” largely unknown DRM vendor Media Rights Technologies, “tries to claim it’s a violation of the law for webcasters (including Yahoo, Clear Channel, iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, MSN Music, Pandora, and Live 365) to broadcast music in a way that allows unlawful recording and copyright, even though a technology capable of doing this would violate the laws of nature,” posted Russell McOrmond earlier in the month.
The company is still largely unknown but it hasn’t abandoned its efforts to fix that by using Apple to grab some media attention.
Apple doesn’t have, “the required government licenses to manufacture and distribute content over the Internet, nor does Apple protect their content from serial copying,” says the company.
Or put another way, it’s not using Media Rights Technologies technologies. So MRT is telling Apple to remove iTunes links from its BlueBeat.com.
“This decision directly affects sales for top artists including Rihanna, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, Amy Winehouse, Akon, The White Stripes, Metallica and Fergie,” it says.
Will any of the aforementioned soon be launching lawsuits at Media Rights for wrongful use of their names?
Meanwhile, “In my review of official government records and discussions with the U.S. Copyright Office, I was shocked to discover that Apple did not obtain their compulsory licenses,” gushes NRT’s Hank Risan importantly, going on:
“MRT will not condone copyright infringement nor risk infringement liability for our customers and partners. Until Apple is fully compliant with government regulations, iTunes will not be permitted on our sites.”
That’s sure to scare the pants off Steve & Co.
Also See:
violate the laws of nature – Really dumb DRM, July 5, 2007
Media Rights Technologies – Media Rights Technologies Pulls iTunes From BlueBeat.com, July 18, 2007
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July 23rd, 2007 at 4:10 pm
“MRT’s unique intellectual property is designed to exist with other content control
technologies,” says MRT founder Hank Risan. “The IP portfolio addresses vulnerabilities
in the current DRM technologies and contributes to a superior consumer experience.”
It appears that the IP portfolio includes seven published US Patent applications
20040236945 Method and system for controlled media sharing in a network
20040186993 Method and system for controlling presentation of media on a media storage device
20040123103 Method for redirecting of kernel data path for controlling recording of media
20040103300 Method of controlling recording of media
20040103297 Controlling interaction of deliverable electronic media
20030221127 System and method for providing global media content delivery
20030172033 Method and system for providing location-obscured media delivery
A quick search of these applications shows some difficulty brewing in the patent area
http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal/pair
20040236945 06-11-2007 Non-Final Rejection
20040186993 07-18-2007 Final Rejection
20040123103 05-03-2007 Final Rejection, Req for Continued Exam then Non-Final Rejection again
20040103300 04-17-2007 Final Rejection, Req for Continued Exam then Non-Final Rejection again
20040103297 02-20-2007 Final Rejection, Req for Continued Exam then Non-Final Rejection again
20030221127 05-30-2007 2x Final Rejections, Req for Continued Exam then Non-Final Rejection again
20030172033 01-29-2007 Case Docketed to Examiner in GAU
Then comes the increased CRB taxes on streaming sites …
The Copyright Royalty Board has, in effect, placed huge new taxes on Web sites that stream songs.
For those of you who love Pandora, this tax would effectively put it out of business, along with many
other streaming Internet radio stations. But there is a company that is fighting tooth-and-nail against
this tax, and it’s based in Santa Cruz. Media Rights Technology deals with putting rights management issues
in the hands of artists rather than the corporations. They also own http://www.bluebeat.com, one of the finest
Internet radio stations out there.