Shazam sued over patent infringement

Digital media identification solutions provider Digimarc has filed a patent infringement complaint against mobile music discovery provider Shazam Entertainment, alleging Shazam's music identification technology infringes three of its patents, including two dating back to 1995. Per the civil complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, the Digimarc patents in question relate to technology enabling devices to identify audio and visual content and connect the consumer to associated Internet services. According to Digimarc, its solutions enable cameras, microphones and other sensors to enable instant identification across all media formats, adding that applications like Shazam use its technologies to provide more intuitive content search.

In May 2009, Shazam--along with partners including Apple, AT&T and Verizon Wireless--was named in a patent lawsuit alleging its application infringes on under-the-radar firm Tune Hunter's music identification system. According to an eight-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Texas, Tune Hunter contends nearly a dozen technology companies are contributing to the infringement of U.S. patent No. 6,941,275, filed by inventor Remi Swierczek in October 2000--the patent abstract outlines "a music identification/purchasing system, specifically to a method for marking the time and the name of the radio station in portable device such as a key holder, watch, cellular phone, beeper or the like which will allow the user to learn via Internet or regular telephone the name of the song, artist and/or music company by matching the stored data with broadcast archive. The system will allow for purchase of the full length of the identified music item or related music." The Tune Hunter suit is still pending.

For more on the Digimarc complaint:
- read this release

Related articles:
Shazam Encore bows on the App Store
iFund invests in music discovery app Shazam 
Shazam adds 15 million new users in six months