A patent holding company called Pragmatus is suing six of the largest MSOs for infringing two patents that describe storage-retrieval-playback systems that sufficiently generic they can describe any VOD system.

Named in the suit are Bright House Networks, Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable, along with various other associated organisations (parent companies, holding companies and subsidiaries).

The suit, as proof of infringement, simply provides URLs to each of the MSOs’ websites touting their VOD services.

The two patents are 5,581,479 and 5,636,139, both awarded to the same two researchers, both describing “information service control points” retrieving “blocks of data” and then distributing those data blocks to “remote stations.”

In November 2010, Pragmatus sued Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and PhotoBucket for infringing patents that relate to systems that enable end customers to upload material and comment upon it.

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Categories: Articles, Policy, Regulation, VOD