When an intimidating giant and a heroic, yet smaller warrior do battle, all folktales and stories account for the warrior defying the odds to conquer the giant. While I, by no means, am suggesting that the giant is a menacing being, the story seems to hold true in modern-day times. In a very high-stakes battle which put yet another twist in the volatile subject of digital music, Microsoft, the international software giant, and Alcatel-Lucent, a telecommunications and computer technology company, butted heads in court to settle an MP3 file patent dispute. After three months in court, a San Diego court upheld Alcatel’s claim that Microsoft unfairly infringed on its claim to the MP3 patent, resulting in 1.52 billion dollars changing hands.
MP3′s Murky Past and Lawsuit Frenzy
MP3 has been at the center of digital music for well over a decade — a remarkably long-lasting product considering the pace at which technology changes. Largely due to its age and its numerous changes throughout the industry, it was unclear as to who really owned the patent to the popular technology. What is clear, however, is that MP3 is still the largest user music technology in the market. Several competitors, including Microsoft’s proprietary Windows Media format, have yet to gain the widespread adoption that MP3 has enjoyed for a long period of time. Since MP3 is clearly not an open-source format, individual companies needed to pay someone in order to use the technology legally. Fraunhofer/Thomson was "widely accepted" as the licensors of the MP3 technology, of which companies like Microsoft and Apple have long paid royalties to utilize the file format.
So why the commotion? Why not just check the record? Well, it’s not that clear-cut.
Quite simply, the origins are as clear as mud. A large part of the credit (as we see it) for developing the digital music algorithm goes to Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits. As such, the one name commonly associated as the inventor of the file format we know today as MP3 goes to the researchers from Fraunhofer. "A common understanding is that Franunhofer invented MP3" noted the lead lawyer for Alcatel-Lucent, John M. Desamarais, in the New York Times. According to further comments made by Desamarais, Bell Labratories’ hand in the development of the MP3 file format was substantial and should not be disregarded as it has been largely by the public.
To further complicate matters, Sisvel, a European company that represents electronics giant Philips, has aggressively attempted to enforce Philips’ part of the MP3 patent. A few months ago, Sisvel filed a formal suit against SanDisk after a Berlin judge granted an injunction on SanDisk’s MP3 players in recognizing a potential patent infringement. Clearly, they aggressively followed up since the injunction led to German officials seizing and raiding all MP3 players from SanDisk’s Berlin IFA stand, according to the article.
Seemingly, everyone was invited into the frenzy as largely unknown Texas MP3 Technologies filed lawsuit against Apple, Samsung, and SanDisk alleging that all three had infringed their patent encompassing "an MPEG portable sound reproducing system and a method for reproducing sound data compressed using the MPEG method." Texas MP3 Technologies claims that patent 7,065,417, which was awarded in June 2006, includes the technologies of which these large corporations have used without proper settlement. In however little humor there is on this mundane topic, Marshall, Texas, where Texas MP3 Technologies filed suit, has seemingly emerged as the capital city of trigger-happy patent enforcers because of its speedy trials and favorable juries.
Microsoft vs. Alcatel-Lucent: So what?
None of these cases have established any real precedent on the topic of patent infringement and proof of patent ownership. For the large part, these cases have been settled with either a settlement or a modest monetary penalty. However, when Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent came out of the court room, everyone involved in consumer electronics and technology felt the vibe of a perhaps a new direction.
MP3 technology is inherently inferior in quality to some of the file formats produced today. That is natural for a decade-old technology, and while numerous companies and individuals have vied to succeed the tremendously popular file format, MP3 has remained the de facto standard. This can be largely attributed to great entrenchment of the technology already, but also because of the lack of limiting digital rights management (DRM) technology incorporated. Newer technologies have to be unquestionably superior to the incumbent technology, or else it is not worth the trouble of adopting it. But, however, MP3 may be succeeded even without a truly viable and popular alternative.
The general school of thought is that with the controversy, cost, and the possible decline of the MP3 file format, other proprietary formats could take hold. However, with the plethora of options out there (including numerous DRM-encoded packages) as a possible successor should MP3 see an immediate decline, it is not clear what technology will emerge. Open Source Ogg Vorbis, Apple’s AAC, or even Microsoft’s Windows Media format could become the next industry standard.
Where will this take us? My thoughts:
Clearly, what format digital audio is encoded could mean very little to most mainstream consumers. What is clearly worth considering, from my perspective, is that MP3′s lifeline could be intricately tied with the forced adoption of DRM file formats. With the recently re-determined and unpopular efforts of the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) to stop piracy and digital music duplication specifically among college-aged students, we may perhaps enter into an age where the tremendous power of technology is limited by powerful corporations with strong interests. MP3 is a very flexible format — it can be duplicated, edited, and sent freely without imposed constraints. It wouldn’t come as much of a surprise if there is a strong push to circulate DRM-protected file formats as MP3′s may decline.
As specifically in the Microsoft vs. Alcatel-Lucent case, while the case comes admits a barrage of MP3 patent infringement suits, the district court judge made a clear statement by assessing a record-breaking 1.52 billion USD rewards against Microsoft. It would be very costly to many companies to sway from the entrenched standard of MP3, but I assume it would be gradually done. While it is unclear whether or not the exact reward will hold as is (Microsoft plans to appeal the case), to me, this signals a new age in digital audio rising along with the popularity of portable music players. Music files won’t just be encoded music — just like how a cell phone today is not just a phone, or a music player is not just a music player.
One Year Later…
On an ending note, this article concludes my first year as a Kudos & Calamities column author. It sure goes by fast — starting off co-authoring with current PC Mechanic Forum Moderator thefultonhow and eventually becoming the senior author. After Freeware Frenzy, Kudos & Calamities is the second longest-lasting continuous column here at PC Mechanic and that is a testament to the support and interests of you, the readers and I thank you all for that. I am personally tremendously grateful for the opportunity to share recent tech news and my thoughts on the topic for already over a year (and counting). My thanks go out to Editor-In-Chief Force Flow, PC Media/Mechanic CEO David Risley, and former PC Mechanic Public Relations Manager and my Kudos & Calamities column predecessor Tyler Thompson for the opportunity to write in this column. And again, thank you all, the readers, for your interest and various input on the subject so far. I look forward to another great year discovering and sharing the Kudos & Calamities of the mysterious world of technology!
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