Sirius, XM hit with second patent lawsuit in two months
By Nilay Patel 
posted May 2nd 2007 8:26PM
posted May 2nd 2007 8:26PM
Looks like the Sirius and XM legal teams are going to be spending a lot of time in good ol' Marshall, Texas this year. The two satellite radio giants are facing their second patent lawsuit in two months, this time over a 1995 patent owned by Finisar, a multinational networking company specializing in optical components. Finisar claims that it tried to license the patent -- which describes a method of regulating the organization of data during a satellite transmission -- to both XM and Sirius in 2005 but got the double cold shoulder. Aiming to correct that slight, the company is now asking the court for monetary damages as well as an injunction preventing XM and Sirius from using the offending tech. We'll be watching this one closely, since Finisar won more than $100 million from DirecTV last year over what appears to be the same patent -- that might put a dent in those merger plans, no?[Via OrbitCast]
Holy crap! This is ridiculous. It seems the US Patent Office will give anyone a patent for anything no matter how broad it is. God this pisses me off.
To be valid, patents need to be original and non obvious. It seems to me that control flow of data, digital transmissions, satellites, networks, cable TV, radio broadcasts all existed before 1995, this knocks down the claim to be original.
Mixing any of the previously mentioned technologies is definitely obvious. I shave in the morning, I sing at other time. Suddenly I realize I can sing while I am shaving, it can't be patented, because that is obvious!
Obviously I could not find a job as a patent judge...
Gosh, this is getting ridiculous! First that NTP and RIM bullpie, and then suddenly there was this small flood of patent companies sprouting up, reaming businesses with their obscure patents, do we just hand out patents nowadays or something? Was there a giveaway at the local Wal-Mart? Was there a coupon day I'm not aware of? Am I being led to believe McDonalds offered a free patent with every medium drink?
Sounds like the NAB is sticking their legal teams into more and more just to get the sat rads to spend money so they will just fold altogether.
Yeah, it seems non-likely, but, all of the sudden since the proposed merger, is all this coming about.
RF SUX.
Maybe if they merge they can fend off this patent for another 4 years until it expires. Plus, even if they lose the patent lawsuit, as a merged company they'd only get to take half as much money.
They should just make the patent lawsuit awards a fraction of the target company's profits. You sued XM! Congrats, now hand over a bunch of money, they're in the red at the moment.
It becomes more evident that this merger is not in the best interest to consumers or investors. I work with the NAB and the one companay would seep into local advertising markets as they begin to offer local weather, traffic and sports programming. Keeping XM and Sirius a part will keep the competition alive and well in the radio broadcast world.