Photo Credit: Spotify
British startup Bluejay Technologies sues Spotify for patent infringement over their Remote Group Session and Jam listening features.
Bluejay Technologies, a London-based startup which developed an app in 2015 for users to create a playlist and then invite friends to join in and listen simultaneously, is suing Spotify for copyright infringement. The lawsuit focuses on the streaming giant’s “Jam” and “Remote Group Sessions” collaborative listening features, which Bluejay asserts the company copied from its patent without permission.
According to the filing, Bluejay shared detailed information about its patented technology with Spotify during discussions in 2018, but in 2020, Spotify subsequently launched their own collaborative listening features without authorization. The complaint was filed on August 2nd in the US District Court for the Central District of California and subsequently shared with Digital Music News.
Bluejay says that while in “B2B discussions with streaming companies and music labels” during its fundraising phase, the company provided “detailed PowerPoint presentations” of how its app worked on a technical level. The complaint also details how Spotify discussed an NDA with Bluejay at the time, aware that the technologies being discussed were proprietary.
In 2020, Spotify launched its “Remote Group Sessions” feature, and then its “Jam” DJ feature in 2023. In April 2023, Bluejay was awarded a patent for its “System for Streaming,” which it asserts Spotify is utilizing in the aforementioned features.
“Jam provides simultaneous searching for users in a session in which a premium customer may restart the session and any user may join the session. This service was promoted as a way to engage, share, and discover music with friends,” the filing reads. “Jam utilizes Bluejay’s patented technology in providing services in Group Session and Jam (the accused services) including providing a shared playlist where playlist management is limited to the host.”
The complaint includes a technical explanation of how the functionality of Spotify’s collaborative listening features infringe upon Bluejay’s own patented technology. The British company is seeking damages for the alleged infringement, as well as pre-judgment and post-judgment interest, costs, and attorney fees.
Spotify has yet to comment on the lawsuit or Bluejay’s allegations.
