Business News
Destiny Media Technologies Provides Update on Canadian Litigation Against Yangaroo
Thursday 15. May 2008 - Yangaroo US Patent Application Appeal Receives Rejection
Destiny Media Technologies (BULLETIN BOARD: DSNY) is pleased to provide an update on the company’s intellectual property protection matters.
Yangaroo (TSX: YOO), a competitor to Destiny’s Play MPE(R) system in the Canadian market, received a rejection from the USPTO on May 9th for US patent application number 10/431,854 (Content Distribution System and Method).
Destiny commenced an action against Yangaroo in the Federal Court of Canada in March 2006 to have the Canadian version of this patent invalidated and to have the Court rule that Destiny’s MPE(R) system does not infringe on this Canadian patent. Discoveries for the action have completed and a pre-trial conference is expected by summer.
Destiny’s MPE(R) technology has been available since 1999 and is protected in the US by a pending patent for a “Digital Media Distribution Method and System” with foreign priority of March 2000, and globally by a filing under the patent cooperation treaty to the world intellectual property organization in 2001. Destiny has received legal opinions from two intellectual property firms, as have select label customers, to ensure Destiny’s patent rights and interpretation of Yangaroo’s and Destiny’s rights is correct.
“We reluctantly began the litigation against Yangaroo when we realized our customers were receiving confusing information regarding our intellectual property rights with respect to our Play MPE(TM) product,” comments Destiny CEO Steve Vestergaard. “They even threatened our customers with litigation for patent rights they didn’t have. We consider their approach a bad faith attempt from a company desperate to obtain market share when both radio and our clients prefer the superior sound quality, security, speed, installed base, partners and features of our Play MPE(TM) product. We consider this whole matter a nuisance.
“Yangaroo has continued to spread misinformation to our customers in the US, including a press release on January 18, 2008 which claimed that the US patent examiner had agreed to recommend their patent for allowance. They have used this false claim to harass our US label customers so we are pleased that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued this ruling, clarifying that this is not the case.
“This misinformation also extended to the investment community,” said Vestergaard.
In a special alert on January 11, 2008, Yangaroo’s investment banker, Cormark Securities, repeated the false claim that the examiner had agreed to issue a US patent, further claiming, “If Yangaroo is granted the patent Yangaroo will likely immediately launch a lawsuit for patent infringement against Destiny Media technologies and put DSNY’s clients on notice for patent infringement.”
According to Vestergaard, “Destiny demanded a retraction from Cormark, which was issued on January 15th, but this report and claims by Yangaroo management in Canadian national newspapers has been used to create confusion among Destiny’s customers and investors.”
In May 2007, Destiny filed a $25 million action against Yangaroo and certain executives for spreading similar misinformation in Canada. On February 29th, 2008, Destiny counsel sent a letter to Yangaroo’s counsel demanding that Yangaroo cease and desist spreading false claims to Destiny’s customers in the US and Canada.