Bloomberg and Forbes hit with TV patent suit

A number of media outlets including Bloomberg, Forbes and ABC have been targeted in patent infringement lawsuits filed by Texas-based Bartonfalls.

In suits filed at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, on Tuesday, October 11, Bartonfalls claimed the companies had infringed US patent number 7,917,922 B2.

The patent concerns a method for integrating a plurality of TV signal sources into a single system.

Claim 1 of the patent is directed to “a method of automatically changing from a first TV programme to an alternate TV programme at a TV viewer location”.

According to the suit against Bloomberg, the media company markets, sells and provides a method for automatically changing from one TV programme to another.

The suit gives the example of Bloomberg’s website at http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/videos/2016-09-09/how-can-hillary-clinton-overcome-the-negatives-attached-to-her.

The first TV programme (“How Can Hillary Clinton Overcome the Negatives Attached to Her?”) automatically switches to an alternative one (“With All Due Respect: Best of the Week 9/06/16”), the suit claimed.

Bartonfalls alleged that Bloomberg has wilfully infringed at least claim 1 of the patent by directly infringing it “with knowledge of the patent and in spite of an objectively high likelihood that its actions constituted infringement”.

Bloomberg is also accused of indirect infringement by continuing to encourage its viewers to infringe.

The Texas-based company is seeking a declaration that Bloomberg and its customers are jointly or separately responsible for the damages from infringement, and a jury trial.