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If you are one of those Internet users who compose a file-sharing scene, you may be witnessing now one of the most important names of this scene becomes a target in the patent infringement case.
The name of BitTorrent Inc. relates to the most appreciated peer-to-peer application in the world – uTorrent and the BitTorrent Mainline. This week the well-known company was sued by a San Francisco-based firm named Tranz-Send Broadcasting Network. The same firm has also sued Kontiki Inc. on the same grounds as BitTorrent Inc.
However, the current case seems a bit different from what the Internet community usually sees when copyright violation and illegal file-sharing are put in the same case. The complaint filed by Tranz-Send Broadcasting Network states that BitTorrent Inc. has infringed on their patent. The patent in question was originally filed 12 years ago and is titled “Media file distribution with adaptive transmission protocols”.
According to the reports, this patent was granted in November 2007. “Media file distribution with adaptive transmission protocols” explains how a file-sharing system works, including the description of a transfer client, a file database, and a distribution server.
Now the San Francisco-based company is seeking considerable damage compensation, claiming that by making, operating, using and selling the P2P clients like uTorrent and BitTorrent Mainline, as well as its other software, BitTorrent Inc. has infringed their patent. Moreover, the company is accused of continuing to violate, contributing to the violation, and inducing the violation of “at least claim 1 of the ’944 patent.”
At the moment, the P2P community can hold its breath before the District Court Judge assesses the validity of the filed complaint.
