EFF Busts Clear Channel

http://www.eff.org/patent/wanted/patent.php?p=clearchannel
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2007_03.php#005155

:)

So a quick bit of background - The EFF are a wonderful organisation that is out there looking after your digital rights as a citizen of the world (even if you haven't heard of them).

They are a non profit (so remember them come tax time) group whose volunteers look into digital issues concerning end users rights.

eg. When the FCC is lobbied by the big business music industry shills and wants to restrict your rights to fair use of CD's it's the EFF that go and lobby congress to make sure you're not getting screwed out of your rights.

The chairman of the group is a guy call Brad Templeton who I've met before and whilst we disagreed on certain issues without a doubt I would always consider the EFF to be one of the most trustworthy groups out there.....and why do they do it (remember these guys are mostly volunteers) - it's because it's made up of very smart people with no respect for money and they just cant be bought off (mainly because they are lousy dressers and they just dont care :).

So recently the EFF have been out there looking at bogus patents (you know like the Amazon page counting one I wrote about recently).

They put together a Top 10 Wanted list

From this list people than submit prior art information that they personally know about which is then submitted to the USPTO to;
1/ ask for re-examination
2/for a patent to be overturned.

So recently the EFF was succesful in having the Clear Channel patent No 6,614,729 which was a bogus patent basically covering the rights of recording a live concert speedily and then selling those cd's at the end of the show - how lame is that?

Clear Channels crimes against the public domain

• Claiming to own a monopoly on all-in-one technologies that produce post-concert live recordings on digital media.


• Forcing bands like the Pixies to use ClearChannel's CD-burning systems instead of their own or those of small start-up companies.


• Threatening to sue anyone who produces post-show live recordings at any of its 100+ venues in the U.S.

Best link of the article :)

Busted!
Notice of Intent To Cancel Patent Claims

Cheers,
Dean