The music streaming service Spotify is reportedly being sued in the US for infringing on patents owned by another company, despite launching in the States just a couple of weeks ago.
Spotify, a service which allows music fans to listen to their favourite tracks online, has been widely praised for preventing copyright infringement by discouraging listeners from illegally downloading music.
However, the service itself has now been accused of breaching patents by distributing music in this way. In lawsuits filed both in California and in the Netherlands, the San Diego-based company Packet Video states that Spotify has infringed on its patents and that it will be taking “necessary action to protect its intellectual property and prevent the misuse of its patents.”
In response to the wireless multimedia software producer’s lawsuit, Spotify has released a statement saying:
“PacketVideo is claiming that by distributing music over the internet, Spotify (and by inference any other similar digital music service) has infringed one of the patents that has previously been acquired by PacketVideo. Spotify is strongly contesting PacketVideo’s claim.”
Both companies are likely to have professional indemnity insurance to cover the costs of the lawsuit, which looks set to be an expensive one should it reach the courts.