Personal Audio LLC (patent holding company)

The history of Personal Audio began on October 2, 1996, when James Logan, Daniel F. Goessling and Charles G. Call filed patents 6,199,076, "An audio program and message distribution system in which a host system organizes and transmits program segments to client subscriber locations,"{{cite web | url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US6199076 | title=Audio program player including a dynamic program selection controller (Patent# 6,199,076 B1) |website=Google Patents}} and 7,509,178, "An audio program and message distribution system in which a host system organizes and transmits program segments to client subscriber locations."{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US7509178 |title=US7509178B2 - Audio program distribution and playback system |website=Google Patents}} Patent 6,199,076 was granted on March 6, 2001, and 7,509,178 on March 24, 2009. Personal Audio LLC was listed as the assignee.

In 2009, Personal Audio sued Apple for $84 million in damages, was awarded $8 million, and immediately sued Apple for additional devices it claimed were not covered in the original settlement.{{cite web |url=http://appleinsider.com/articles/11/07/22/after_8m_victory_personal_audio_sues_apple_again_over_same_patent |title=After $8M victory, Personal Audio sues Apple again over same patent |date=July 22, 2011 |first=Katie |last=Marsal |website=Apple Insider }}

In 2013, Personal Audio filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Lotzi Digital, Inc., producers of The Adam Carolla Show and several other podcasts on the Carolla Digital Network. The suit alleged that owner Adam Carolla and his network of content infringed on Personal Audio's patent 8,112,504.{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/node/21599498 |title=A podcast patent piper wants to be paid |publisher=The Economist Newspaper Limited |newspaper=The Economist |date=March 25, 2014 | accessdate=August 20, 2014 |author=Fleishman, Glenn}}

Using the crowdfunding site FundAnything.com, listeners have contributed more than $475,000 (as of August 2014) to support Carolla throughout the legal proceedings.{{cite web |url=https://fundanything.com/en/campaigns/patenttroll |title=Save Our Podcasts Legal Defense Fund |work=FundAnything |accessdate=August 20, 2014 |author=Carolla, Adam |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140822035605/https://fundanything.com/en/campaigns/patenttroll |archive-date=August 22, 2014 |url-status=dead |date=July 29, 2014}}

Personal Audio dropped the lawsuit July 29, 2014, stating that the defendants were not "making significant money from infringing Personal Audio's patents". However, Carolla countersued, having already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars mounting a defense against claims he deemed unfounded. Among claims sought by the countersuit is a request that the initial patent be invalidated.{{cite web |url=http://upstart.bizjournals.com/entrepreneurs/hot-shots/2014/07/30/adam-carolla-relentlessly-pursues-a-patent-troll.html |title=Adam Carolla relentlessly pursues a patent troll, raises $458,000 for his countersuit |work=Upstart Business Journal |date=July 30, 2014 |accessdate=August 20, 2014 |author=del Castillo, Michael}} On August 15, 2014, Carolla and Personal Audio filed a joint motion to dismiss after reaching a settlement, the details of which are confidential, but include a six-week "quiet period" during which neither party could speak to the media.{{cite web |url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/08/good-bad-and-ugly-adam-carollas-settlement-podcasting-troll |title=The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Adam Carolla's Settlement with the Podcasting Troll |publisher=EFF.org |date=August 18, 2014 |accessdate=August 20, 2014 | author=Nazer, Daniel}} Both parties' claims were dropped without prejudice, and as such can be re-filed at a later date.{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/adam-carolla-strikes-a-deal-with-podcasting-patent-troll/ |title=Adam Carolla settles with podcasting patent troll, agrees to 'quiet period' |work=Ars Technica |date=August 19, 2014 |accessdate=August 20, 2014 |author=Mullin, Joe}}

On April 10, 2015, based on a challenge by the Electronic Frontier Foundation,{{cite web |title=EFF Files Challenge With Patent Office Against Troll's Podcasting Patent |url=https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-files-challenge-patent-office-against-trolls-podcasting-patent |website=Electronic Frontier Foundation |date=16 October 2013 |accessdate=11 April 2015}} the United States Patent and Trademark Office revoked five provisions of Personal Audio's podcasting-related patent, 8,112,504.{{cite news |last1=Fung |first1=Brian |title=How the government just protected some of your favorite podcasts |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2015/04/10/how-the-government-just-protected-your-favorite-podcasts/ |newspaper=Washington Post |accessdate=11 April 2015 |date=April 10, 2015 |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151230192250/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/04/10/how-the-government-just-protected-your-favorite-podcasts/ |archive-date=December 30, 2015}} On May 14, 2018, the Supreme Court rejected Personal Audio's petition for review, thus invalidating all the patent claims the latter had asserted over podcasters.{{Cite web|url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/051418zor_j4el.pdf|title=Certiorari - Summary Dispositions |website=Supreme Court of the United States |date=May 14, 2018}}

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• {{Official website|http://personalaudio.net}}

Category:Patent monetization companies of the United States