Discovery & Amazon.com, Round One.

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Written by Frank R | 19 March 2009
Posted in SOMM Blogs - Computer Technology

In an up and coming column I'm writing about the online distribution of literature, I write about the coming of age of the last major media source (literature) that has not made a splash in the online distribution wave many media industries enjoy riding like music, video games and movies. That very topic could be at stake with what I am writing about now. As reported by CNET News, Discovery Communications, the parent of Discovery Channel, has filed a patent lawsuit against Amazon.com. The lawsuit alleges that Amazon.com through the sell of its Kindle eReader device and online eBook distribution violates Discovery's security and copy protection (DRM) patents.

According to the suit, Discovery claims Amazon violated its patent for Electronic Book Security and Copyright Protection System. A summary of the patent as follow:

A method for encrypting, sending, and receiving electronic books upon demand, comprising: creating a list of titles of available electronic books; transmitting the list of titles of available electronic books; selecting a title from the transmitted list of titles; communicating the selected title to an electronic book source; supplying a selected electronic book corresponding to the selected title to be encrypted; supplying an encryption key; encrypting the selected electronic book using the encryption key; supplying the encrypted selected electronic book; supplying a decryption key; and decrypting the encrypted selected electronic book using the decryption key.

Abstract

The invention, electronic book security and copyright protection system, provides for secure distribution of electronic text and graphics to subscribers and secure storage. The method may be executed at a content provider's site, at an operations center, over a video distribution system or over a variety of alternative distribution systems, at a home subsystem, and at a billing and collection system. The content provider or operations center and/or other distribution points perform the functions of manipulation and secure storage of text data, security encryption and coding of text, cataloging of books, message center, and secure delivery functions. The home subsystem connects to a secure video distribution system or variety of alternative secure distribution systems, generates menus and stores text, and transacts through communicating mechanisms. A portable book-shaped viewer is used for secure viewing of the text. A billing system performs the transaction, management, authorization, collection and payments utilizing the telephone system or a variety of alternative communication systems using secure techniques.

If Discovery Communications wins this suit, its effect could lead to lawsuits against Sony, Adobe and other eBook software/electronic devices companies that use DRM similar to Discovery's patented DRM. The lawsuit also means a devastating blow to the young online literature distribution market. Many critics are asking how the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office could grant a patent to such broad descriptions of a protection system in 2007. Discovery has not announced an eReader device nor a eBook DRM software solution. I'm sure Amazon.com plans to fight this suit, but I see very little they can do outside of offering DRM-free e-literature or licensing the patent from Discovery.

It stuns me to realize that Discovery has this patent pending since 1992, has not release any products through this patent yet has waited until Amazon.com's Kindle 2 has gained popularity to issue a patent suit. This is just another reason of why U.S. patent and trademark laws need to be overhauled. As it is now, patent laws slow innovation and a lack of innovation means the same mediocre products for us consumers.

I'll keep you all updated on this suit.

Frank

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Tags: Amazon.com, DRM, Discovery, Lawsuit, Patent, Protection, Security, eBook, eReader