Apple, Motorola Et Al Sued Over Music Recognition Software

A US based company, Tune Hunter, Inc. is suing a raft of companies for allegedly infringing a patent relating to identifying music by a digital signature. The service is largely similar to widely known music identification service provided by Shazam.

The lawsuit filing names Samsung Telecommunications America, Apple, Shazam Entertainment, Amazon.com, Napster, Motorola, Gracenote, Cellco Partnership, LG Electronics USA, AT&T Mobility and Pantech Wireless as defendants.

The patent in question is No. 6,941,275 for a "Music identification system" granted in September of 2005, although it was filed back in October 2000.

The patent describes "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 lawsuit has been filed at Texas Eastern District Court.

On the web: USPTO - Justia - Shazam

Posted to the site on 14th May 2009