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Don't throw away those Scullys and Harris 90 systems yet :)

Don't ya love it? Next someone is going to try to copywrite dirt or maybe even the name KISS for a radio station... Ooops! They've already tried that one with success :(!
 
Here is the part that causes me to scratch my head:

Mission Abstract Data LLC, doing business as DigiMedia, has filed a complaint in United States District Court for the District of Delaware alleging patent infringement by CBS Radio, Beasley Broadcasting, Cox Radio, Greater Media, Cumulus, Entercom and Townsquare Media. In all, more than 900 radio stations are involved.


All are major market operators except Townesqurae who's focus with a couple of exceptions are small to medium markets. They must have ticked him off because including them among the others is a little odd.
 
This is just another example of somebody trying to capitalize on something that they (probably) have no right to. Next, they'll try to copyright air and charge you on a per breathe basis.
 
Townsquare is Oaktree Capital. Lots of $$$$$.

Ain't no profit in suing poor folks....they tend to get mad & retaliate.
 
I had an Audisk going in the rack in very late 1989/very early 1990....that's waaaaaaay before their copyright claims. I believe the thing is still in the basement.
 
I'm going to sue all tire manufacturers because one of my ancestors invented the wheel and now everyone is encroaching on my copyright.

This is ridiculous, to say the least. Does every word processor owe the original one any money? They all put words on the screen/page. Give me a break. And naturally, some shyster lawyer took this case.
 
We installed an Audisk in Evansville prior to the Seymour unit.

Remember DeForest beat Armstrong in a patent case even though DeForest had no ideas how the tube worked. Armstrong took something and used it for a new purpose and was genius.

RCA wanted to stop making patent payments to Armstrong and his wife had to sue after his death.
 
It could be argued that the early Smartcasters and Arrakis Digilinks don't count because there is no central server involved, but when I worked at BSW in 1992-95, we were selling Audio Vaults, which I believe did utilize a server. Not only that, a very unusual redundancy in case of drive failure. Audio was split with left channel on one drive, and right channel on the other. If a drive failed, you had mono with one channel...
 
A lot of modern systems don't use a central server either--no need with large hard drives. Heard that one of our local clusters had fun one weekend when disgruntled former employee got back in on Saturday & shut down the server on their centralized system. If I was building a system from scratch for a cluster I would go with stand-alone (but identical) systems for each station for this very reason. Eliminates single-point of failure issues; a lot easier to just replace a single failed PC.

But that's beside the point here. I am not sure that would make a difference to these clowns, they seem to claim they have a patent on the concept of storing ( & retrieving) music for broadcast on a computer. Thereby covering both stand-alone systems with a single computer, or a networked system with a central server.
 
I run an Audiovault File Server. It is for backup though... All of my workstations use Intel SSD's for Windows & Program Files. Then, I have a second 1 TB drive for local audio. All audio is mirrored to all stations. IF a studio hard drive fails, I can point the mount to the File Server to play audio over the network.

So, basically, I have an audio server for emergencies only.
 
Has anyone received anymore info on this subject? Seems everyone on the automation manufacturing level doesn't to want to talk about this. I am sure it is legal issues, but you would think someone at the level of the equipment and software provider could at least supply their customers with some information and background. All I am getting from my manufacturer, and even the NAB, is "call your attorney". I can't help but think that someone in the automation industry knew of this patent and, I hate to say, just kept on selling the gear anyway without dealing with possible infringement issues? Where is the manufacturer's responsibility and liability in all of this? At least an upfront disclosure that you may get sued after you purchased the equipment should be offered to the potential purchaser. Not being on a soap box, but this patent infringement appears not to be going away. Just asking if anyone else is dealing with this on an almost daily basis?
 
I suspect the reason for the "radio silence" is that they are wading through the discovery process. The defending stations will have disclosed their expert witnesses, but don't want to give the attorneys for the patent trolls any ammunition to use in a deposition of those witnesses.

Typically these cases are won or lost in discovery. if the experts are properly prepared they will just answer the questions posed by the defense's legal team and not embellish. The questions will be phrased to establish the key issue here: Was there "prior art" in use in the industry substantially identical to the concept patented here. Then they will sit back and hope the lawyers for the patent trolls are unable to get these witnesses to say something that will muddy the issues.

The goal is to have the case dismissed on a Civil Rule 12(b)(6) motion (failure to state claim for which relief can be granted) before it goes to trial.
 
An excellent point! Answers a couple of my questions of why there is no clear info out there at this time.
 
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