CHECK OUT THIS INTERESTING, TO ME ANYWAY, ARTICLE ABOUT THE LEGAL BATTLE BETWEEN DISCOVERY & THE UBER POPULAR KINDLE DEVICE. IT INVOLVES WEB-SHIPPING & STORE TITAN AMAZON, & MUSIC, MOVIE, & WHATAEVER ELSE TITAN SONY. ENJOY
Discovery’s Patent Lawsuit Could Reveal Kindle Sales
Sony and Amazon fighting over eBook patents? Sure, just about anyone could imagine that. But Discovery Communications (the media company behind Discovery Channel and Animal Planet) suing Amazon over the Kindle’s patents just seems odd.
On the bright side, this tussle might finally force Amazon to drop the cloak and dagger routine over the Kindle’s sales figures.
The news comes as Discovery’s legal team filed suit with the U.S. District Court claiming that Amazon’s Kindle, Kindle 2, and even its book delivery system infringe on existing patents. According to the company release, U.S. Patent Number 7,298,851 was granted to Discovery’s founder, John S. Hendricks, back in November 2007 — shortly after the first Kindle went on sale.
The patent filing, categorized as “Electronic Book Security and Copyright Protection System,” outlines the creation of an encryption and delivery system for text, and even mentions use of a “portable book-shaped viewer” for TV guide-like applications. If you haven’t already guessed, these features sound a lot like aspects of Amazon’s oft-hyped and questionably expensive pocket reader.
According to Discovery’s release, if the company wins the dispute it has no intention of halting Kindle sales; however, the resulting amount awarded for royalties would be based on the Kindle’s sales figures. From that figure, one could likely construct a rough sales history for the device beyond the 240,000 units guestimated back in August. But for the time being Amazon is still keeping mum — both on the Kindle’s sales and on the patent dispute.
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