Patent Owner Suing over Anti-Piracy Techniques

Scott Moskowitz, the person who claims to have patent rights on “signal abstraction”, is currently suing a number of companies using basic anti-piracy methods. Trolling as it is.

Scott Moskowitz is known for inventing a form of cryptography designed to stop Internet piracy. That’s why he is now suing Google, Shazam, and many other corporations for using his method without permission. Moskowitz’s company, Blue Spike LLC, has recently filed a bunch of lawsuits against the entities using common digital water-marking methods. The list includes such giants as Facebook, Soundhound, and Viggle. The only question that remains is whether Moskowitz actually owns the patent or just exploiting US frivolous patent system.

Its company claims that Scott is a pioneer in this new field between cryptography and signal analysis, and he invented signal abstracting – a new way to detect illegal music, text and movies online.

This is one of the most effective techniques available for fighting piracy, absolutely undetectable to the thief, and enabling copyright holders to easily search through large amounts of information in order to detect illegal copies of their works.

In addition, the filing says that the patent holder used to work with the federal government and a number of professional societies, has two degrees from UPenn, and was even mentioned by the Forbes and New York Times for his invention. Nevertheless, there are a few signs pointing to the fact that this might be a hoax. Firstly, his website lists neither products/prices nor clients. Secondly, the office of his company is registered in Tyler, Texas – ground zero for patent trolling cases. Finally, all Scott’s degrees are from business school.

While discussing crippled US patent system, experts emphasize that Scott Moskowitz applied for his invention dozen years ago – the fatidic time when the US Patent Office issued patents for “outstanding” inventions, including swinging on a swing and exercising the cat with a laser beam.

Moskowitz’s lawyers claim that it is about “going forward with what you believe in and not allowing people walk all over your rights”. The list of the companies Blue Spike sues includes MySpace, Photobucket, Soundcloud, Qlipso, MediaFire, Harmonics, Metacafe, and iPharoah.