Photo Credit: Wesley Tingey
BMG is being sued by a company called Muvox LLC over patent infringement stemming from BMG Synch song-selection methodology.
A company called Muvox LLC is suing BMG and technology giant IBM in a separate filing for alleged patent infringement in the US. The lawsuit, filed in a Texas court last month, stems from a patent involving “a method for selecting a song” based on other songs with similar moods. Specifically, the lawsuit focuses on song recommendation features within the BMG Synch service.
The patent describes the method of selecting songs by “checking the one or more moods of the song against at least one other mood identification technique for a level of correlation between the one or more moods of the song and the one or more moods of the plurality of the other songs.”
Aperture Investments LLC is listed as the company to which the patent is assigned, and currently has around 15 patents, either active or pending, involving “streaming music categorization using rhythm, texture, and pitch” and “music selection and organization using rhythm, texture, and pitch.”
In the filing, Muvox describes the BMG Synch service as “a digital platform that allows clients to license music for synchronization purposes, [offering] a catalog of music from various artists, songwriters, and composers, providing a wide range of genres,” and that “users can search within this catalog, listen to tracks, etc.”
Muvox also accuses IBM of copying elements of its patent that recommends music based on the song’s “mood,” alleging that the infringing platform “is a cognitive cloud-based music program developed using AI and machine learning that uses musical notes to analyze moods and reproduce music based on the identified mood.”
The case against BMG is similar to those filed against Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group last year, regarding four patents related to the encoding and distribution of digital content. Those lawsuits, according to Bloomberg Law, were filed by Texas-based Blue Spike LLC in New York (WMG) and California (UMG).
