Patent troll sues Netflix over offline downloads

The US intellectual property system strikes again

Netflix and a number of other high-profile companies is being sued by patent troll Blackbird Technologies over claims that it owns the intellectual property rights to 'offline downloads'.

The other organisations being targetted by Blackbird, according to reports, are Soundcloud, Vimeo, Starz, Mubi and Studio 3 Partners.

Blackbird Technologies was founded by two patent attorneys from major law firms, Wendy Verlander and Chris Freeman, rather than any technologist. The organisation claims to own US Patent Number 7,174,362, and has targetted internet video companies based or operating in the US that offer offline-viewing capabilities.

The lawsuit was kicked off last week and covers a "method and system for supplying products from pre-stored digital data in response to demands transmitted via computer network", according to the broadly worded filing with the US Patent Office.

Computing has contected Netflix and the other companies named in the lawsuit for comment on the case, as well as Blackbird Technologies, which has offices in three US cities.

The company claims to offer "a new model for individual inventors and small companies to monetise their intellectual property".

It does this by purchasing the intellectual property and pursuing other companies that make or sell products and services that embody anything that might resemble one of the patents in their portfolio - a classic patent troll, in other words. As an incentive, it offers a profit-sharing model with inventors.

Recent successfully concluded cases involving Blackbird involves sports bras and LED light bulb cases.

The humdrum patent for LED light bulbs simply involves the basic idea of using LEDs in place of standard fluorescent technology within the luminaire's casing.