--- Date: Wed, 16 Jul 2003 01:57:34 +0200 From: chefren <chefrenat_private> To: declanat_private Subject: Sisvel (Philips) sues A-MAX to get paid for MP3 patents Declan, I've been asked for arguments in the first legal MP3 patent case that I know of and I would be very happy if you could forward this request to your Politech readers. The legal case is between Sisvel, an Italian representative of Philips, against A-MAX Technology from Hong Kong and directly concerns all MP3 decoding for the whole European Union. http://www.sisvel.it/ http://www.amaxhk.com/ A-MAX and it's distributors bring various MP3 players into the European market. http://www.amaxhk.com/products/products.htm The dispute is about four Philips patents: EP 0 402 973 B1 EP 0 660 540 B1 EP 0 599 824 B1 EP 0 400 755 B1 With worldwide equivalents, see also for abstracts and whole patents: http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP0402973 http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP0660540 http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP0599824 http://l2.espacenet.com/espacenet/viewer?PN=EP0400755 The dispute is divided in two legal cases, the hearing for the first case concerning the first two patents was held June 26th, the next hearing will be the July 23th in The Hague, Netherlands. The first hearing had some funny moments. After a lengthy explanation of the Sisvel lawyer one of the judges asked the Sisvel lawyer if the patent was more or less mathematics (mathematics cannot be patented). An "interesting" reaction of the lawyer followed. However the whole case isn't funny at all and will have a big impact on the use of MP3 and lots of comparable formats. Sisvel demonstrated a modified MP3 file in an A-MAX player and because the player decoded the signal accordingly it was considered "proof" the patented technology was used. In the demonstration a signaling bit in a series of MP3 frames was inverted and the player simply responded accordingly. Any hardware or software MP3 player, A-MAX, WinAMP or Real Player would have produced the same decoded signal. In my eyes Philips tried to prove that compatibility was prohibited. That MP3 code/language, can only be legally decoded/understood if you pay them. During the first hearings to my opinion far to little different arguments were used by the A-MAX lawyer. I am highly interested in any single argument concerning this case. Philosophy, prior art, comparable legal cases, other people or companies threatened by Sisvel, anything may be of great help to get these patents, that threaten free playing of MP3 files, off the map. I will keep you in touch with the proceedings. +++chefren <chefrenat_private> ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------
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