July 11, 2012 - DigiMedia Holdings Group LLC asked for the federal judge presiding over their patent suit to lift a stay, alleging that the defendants are biding their time until the patents expire.
DigiMedia sued large broadcast groups CBS Radio, Cox, Entercom, Cumulus, Beasley Broadcasting and Greater Media over a year and a half ago, claiming that they infringe two patents on radio automation. But according to DigiMedia, no depositions have been taken nor any discovery provided by the defendants. Instead, the two patents have undergone reexaminations that struck down some claims while upholding others.
“The litigation and DigiMedia’s licensing program have been derailed through a combination of multiple reexamination requests, litigation stay, and a licensing blockade coordinated among the defendants, state and national broadcaster associations and automation vendors,” said DigiMedia in its court filings.
Another company, Broadcast Electronics, which is not a defendant in the case, filed an ex parte reexamination request in addition to reexams initiated by the defendants - leading DigiMedia to complain that "the follow-up reexamination request filed by Broadcast Electronics makes clear the strategy of both the named defendants in this case, and the industry of which they are part, is to try to wait out the asserted patents until their expiration in less than two years.”
DigiMedia and Mission Abstract Data, a company associated with it, have contacted several large radio broadcasters about licensing their patented technology.