Patent law requires that an invention be novel, useful, and non-obvious to experts in the field in order to qualify for a valid patent. Ian Clarke, founder of the P2P network Freenet, examined the patents cited by Altnet for an article he wrote in 2003.
"This is a classic example of what is wrong with the U.S. patent system," Clarke said. "These patents essentially cover a very obvious technique that's been used for decades. For someone to get a patent on something that is so obvious really just beggars belief. Or rather it would beggar belief if one weren't familiar with some of the other patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office." Freenet is not a commercial song-swapping network and did not receive a letter from Altnet.
But Hadley said a federal jury has already upheld the validity of at least one of the patents. In 2000, one of the original patent holders -- a San Francisco firm called Digital Island Inc. -- sued Web content manager Akamai Technologies, claiming that the company was violating the hashing patent. Akamai prevailed in the ensuing trial, when a jury decided that the company was not using the patented technology, but the same panel concluded that the patent itself was valid, Hadley said.
Altnet licenses the patents from Ronald Lachman, a Northbrook, Ill.-based technology entrepreneur. Lachman, who has started several high-tech firms, was appointed chief science officer at Brilliant Digital in 2003. He declined to provide details of the licensing agreement.
Louis Tatta and Greg Bildson, the chief operating officers of BearShare and Lime Wire, said they're in talks with their peers in the field about pooling their resources to mount a legal challenge against the patent claims. Both said they would not honor Altnet's claims.
'We Call It an Offer'
Others don't appear to be taking the letter that seriously.
"When I stopped laughing, I re-read the letter and first of all I found it amusing that they said I was using their technology when we haven't even launched yet and nobody's seen my software," said Wayne Rosso, CEO of Mashboxx, a soon-to-be-launched commercial peer-to-peer service. Mashboxx plans to distribute legal, licensed files over its network using technology developed by San Francisco-based SnoCap.
Hadley said Altnet doesn't have any immediate plans to sue companies that don't respond to the letters, but added that the company has vowed to protect its claims by all available means, including litigation. "You could call it a warning. We call it an offer to license our technology," Hadley said.
In December, Altnet and Brilliant sued the Recording Industry Association of America and three companies that the record industry pays to track and disrupt the transmission of copyrighted songs over P2P networks. Altnet and Brilliant claimed that the technology the companies were using to disrupt the system violated their hashing patents.
Hadley said the lawsuit against the RIAA is meant to shut down the recording industry's guerilla-style attack on file sharing. He said the letters to peer-to-peer companies are not aimed at shutting those companies down.
