Back in 2014, a patent troll called Personal Audio LLC embarked on a campaign to shake down podcasters large and small for millions, but then they made the mistake of tangling with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
EFF scored a big win against Personal Audio LLC in 2015, and then fought the troll's attempt to appeal the case.
Now, the Supreme Court has sent Personal Audio packing, comprehensively killing all outstanding claims against podcasters, forever. EFF did it with your help, crowdfunding the cash to challenge the patent and crowdsourcing the prior art used to invalidate it. Congratulations, internet, we did it! We saved podcasting!
On August 7, 2017, the Federal Circuit affirmed the PTAB’s ruling invalidating all challenged claims. After this defeat, Personal Audio tried to get the Supreme Court to take its case. It argued that the IPR process is unconstitutional, raising arguments identical to those presented in the Oil States case. The Supreme Court rejected those arguments in its Oil States decision, issued last month. Personal Audio also argued that EFF should be bound by a jury verdict in a case between Personal Audio and CBS—an argument which made no sense, because that case involved different prior art and EFF was not a party.Today, the Supreme Court issued an order denying Personal Audio’s petition for certiorari. With that ruling, the PTAB’s decision is now final and the patent claims Personal Audio asserted against podcasters are no longer valid. We thank everyone who supported EFF’s Save Podcasting campaign.
EFF Wins Final Victory Over Podcasting Patent
[Daniel Nazer/EFF]
