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Real Claims Audio on Demand Patent?
It seems that the US patent office granted RealNetworks a broad patent on Tuesday which covers "audio-on-demand communication system" that "provides real-time playback of audio data transferred via telephone lines or other communication links," Pretty much covering the spectrum of streaming audio over the Internet.
According to a report by Inside.com, RealNetworks is now the proud owner of this massively broad patent, which they had applied for initially back in 1994 and supports additional claims in patents granted to the company in 1998.
What does this mean to the average consumer? Well with all things that are patented, people who apply for the patents generally do so in order to implement a surcharge on the use of that technology by other people at a later time. Considering the broad scope of this patent, RealNetworks could be in a situation to charge for any streaming audio service over the Internet, something which boggles my mind considering how basic such a service is.
How could the US patent office grant such powerful patents to one company with little to no disregard to the effects of doing so? It really makes me wonder if there was any "other" interests involved in granting the patent to RealNetworks.
With MP3's being patented and licensed starting next year, this added patent could make streaming MP3's over the internet one hell of a costly task with the RIAA licensing fees, MP3 use tariff, and now this potential tariff for simply streaming audio over the internet which seems quite ridiculous in my mind.
With all of this patenting and licensing control, my question is do online music DJ's really have a fair chance at all of being successful and profitable in the future?
User Comments
(These do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of this site)
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Anonymous
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Date: November 24, 2000 @ 12:36 PM
Was not Apple's QuickTime doing streaming a long time before Real? Was not MP3 doing streaming long time before real when it came? (MP3 was not intended for use into computers and was streaming only).
Sorry bad english |
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Anonymous
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Date: November 24, 2000 @ 1:03 PM
All I know is if Real Networks starts to charge the world for streaming audio on the Internet they are going to piss off a lot of the community. I hate RA sound quality, and hate the fact that they are / have been in bed with MS since the early days, forcing people to put the program on thier PC which ended up in court for spying on them. If RealNetworks is not careful they could end up pissing off the whole community and end up with a underground scene bent on taking them out of business for the asshole moves they pull. |
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Anonymous
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Date: November 24, 2000 @ 2:50 PM
The US patent office really needs to catch up with the current state of technology. They are constantly giving out these ridiculous patents lately. This will simply be overturned if Real ever tries to enforce it. There are many very clear cases of "prior art" for this. |
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Anonymous
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Date: November 24, 2000 @ 4:39 PM
Well, the article says that the patent application was filed in 1994. I guess no one else thought of it first. If you did, I don't think you would be griping about it! |
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milladrive
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Date: November 24, 2000 @ 5:27 PM
In addition to profit motives, many other people who apply for patents do so to prohibit others from using the same technology. Granted, they're shifty little buggers, but I'm not sure Real intends to charge the public so much as they wish to block their competition.
I agree, though, that the US Patent Office had no business granting a patent w/such breadth, especially when I'm sure that they don't fully comprehend the technology. I'd take odds that someone's gettin' sump'n under the table. ;) |
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MikeyLove
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Date: November 24, 2000 @ 7:09 PM
DMX = Streaming Audio
Cable TV = Streaming Audio PLUS Video!!! OMG!!!
All this over COMMUNICATION LINES!!
This line added because that fucking stupid CAPS checker is pissing me off. |
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indyrod
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Date: November 24, 2000 @ 8:04 PM
well, hell, it could be worse, it could be Microsoft's WMP. Can't think of anything else worse.
Indyrod
AVS Preset Artist |
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Chad
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Date: November 24, 2000 @ 10:09 PM
No special interests here Mike..the US patent office is 3 fries short of a Happy Meal. |
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Anonymous
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Date: November 24, 2000 @ 11:51 PM
When is this crap going to stop?? Seems to me that the patent office needs to be burned to the ground (with the examiners tied up inside) and entirely rebuilt. |
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hagman
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Date: November 25, 2000 @ 7:44 AM
lets boycott real
hagman@artlover.com
http://come.to/hagman
:P |
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RamenBoy
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Date: November 25, 2000 @ 11:24 AM
I've been boycotting Real for at least the past year. They're a bunch of money-grubbing bastards, and anyone who's gone through a recent RealPlayer installation knows damn well what I'm talking about.
When are people going to stop hoarding ideas in the name of technological advancement? |
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