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Patent troll sues cable operators |
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Written by Felix Da Silva (fdasilva@bitnip.com)
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Sunday, 17 February 2008 |
 A suburban Philadelphia patent troll is trying to force large cable operators and major broadcasters to pay
substantial license fees on the transmission of digital TV signals and Internet
services.
According to Multichannel News, Rembrandt IP Management, could pull in big money from the enforcement of patents related to the cable industry’s standard for connecting customers to the Internet and the broadcast industry’s mandate to transmit all TV signals in digital form by a year from now.
According to an attorney close to the litigation, the firm has sought to collect half of 1% of all revenue generated from services that allegedly infringe on the data and video patents.
Rembrandt is attacking two key technology standards used by the cable and broadcast industries, CableLabs’ DOCSIS and the Advanced Television Systems Committee’s digital-TV spec.
Rembrandt has had success before as they won their first significant legal victory earlier this month. A federal jury awarded Rembrandt $41 million after finding Novartis’ Ciba Vision eye-care unit had infringed on a patent covering a treatment for contact-lens surfaces.
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