p2pnet.net News:- Following more than half a decade of "vigorous litigation", SightSound Technologies has won a patent infringement lawsuit worth $3.3 million against Bertelsmann’s CDNow, and N2K.

The companies paid up without conceding any infringement.

"Resolution of this dispute, after six years of vigorous litigation, is momentous," says SightSound attorney William Wells, on the companies website. "SightSound can now look forward with renewed strength to licensing those in the music and movie industry who seek to employ SightSound’s patented technology in downloading digital music and movies over the Internet."

In the settlement, CDnow and N2K acknowledged that US Patents 5,191,573; 5,675,734; and 5,966,440 are valid and enforceable

But is this the end?

Maybe not, says Brandon Shalton on his FightThePatent.com

"It will be interesting to see what SightSound will do with its patent and this settlement. Porn websites that are member based (ie. monthly membership fee) could technically fall within this patent. Video-on-Demand sites that offer pay-per-minute or video downloads (ie. CinemaNow.com, MovieLink.com, etc) could find themselves faced with paying licenses to two or more patent holders.

"CinemaNow.com signed a license with Acacia and MovieLink.com is currently being sued by USA Video.

"How will these and other businesses react to having to pay ANOTHER licensing agreement for the same thing?

"Is this a patent paradox or just patently absurd?"

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2004 at 9:49 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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