Plaintiff Buffalo Patents, LLC, filed suit against defendants Spotify Technology S.A., Spotify AB, and Spotify USA Inc. (collectively, Spotify) on Tuesday in the District of Delaware. The complaint for patent infringement alleges that Spotify’s platform Spotify Live infringes on a patent held by Buffalo Patents that protects their method used for conference call management.
The complaint cites direct infringement of the ‘417 patent, titled “Method and Apparatus for Improved Conference Call Management,” and was issued to the plaintiff in 2005 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
According to the filing, the patented technology allows members of a community to “meet and collaborate in a freeform and unscheduled way, and yet “retain collective and individual degrees of organizational control,” such as through providing conference call data, designation of users as “speakers,” limiting the time a user is permitted to speak, etc.”
Buffalo Patents claims that Spotify infringed upon this patent when they launched their Spotify Live social platform. Spotify Live allows users to set up a conference call, join a conference call, and lastly receive a list of available conference calls. Buffalo asserts that Spotify Live practices “a method for a selecting participant to access a conference call,” which directly infringes on their patent.
The complaint concludes by contending Spotify urged its users to use their products in an infringing manner, and that the defendants’ infringement is demonstrated “through its use of the accused products [Spotify Live] through its own testing of the accused products, through joint infringement with its affiliates, with its subsidiaries, with its business partners, with other agents of Spotify, and/or with its customers and end-users, at least using the claimed method.”
The suit cites one count of infringement of the ‘417 patent. The plaintiff is seeking a trial by jury, favorable judgment of infringement, an injunction preventing future infringement or an award of a reasonable ongoing royalty, damages, pre- and post-judgment interest, litigation fees, and any other relief deemed necessary by the Court.
The plaintiff is represented in the litigation by Farnan LLP and Antonelli, Harrington & Thompson LLP.
