Gracenote licensing controversy
Encyclopedia
In 1998, CDDB
was purchased by Escient
, a consumer electronics manufacturer, and operated as a business unit within the Indiana
--based company. CDDB was then spun out of Escient and in July of 2000 was renamed Gracenote
.
In 1999, freedb
, an open source
clone of the Gracenote CDDB service, was created by former CDDB users as a non-commercial alternative. The track listing database freedb used to seed its new service was based on the data released for public use by CDDB.
The CDDB database license was later changed to include new terms. For instance, any programs using a CDDB lookup had to display a CDDB logo while performing the lookup.
In March 2001, only licensed applications were provided access to the Gracenote database. New licenses for CDDB1 (the original version of CDDB) were no longer available, so programmers using Gracenote services were required to switch to CDDB2 (a new version incompatible with CDDB1).
To some, the decision was controversial because the CDDB database was started with the voluntary submission of CD track data by thousands of individual users. Initially, most of these were users of the xmcd CD player program. The xmcd program itself was an open-source, GPL
project. Many listing contributors believed that the database was open-source as well, because in 1997, cddb.com's download and support pages had said it was released under the GPL. CDDB claims that license grant was an error.
The patent was issued in May 2005, and has since been referenced by 66 other patents.
made the decision to find another free music-recognition provider. In response to the competition, Gracenote filed a lawsuit with the patent at the base of its claims.
Roxio filed a motion to dismiss the case on the ground that the patent claim by Gracenote was invalid due to previous art. The court granted the motion and agreed in part, rendering one patent in question invalid due to previous art.
CDDB
CDDB, short for Compact Disc Database, is a database for software applications to look up audio CD information over the Internet. This is performed by a client which calculates a unique disc ID and then queries the database. As a result, the client is able to display the artist name, CD title,...
was purchased by Escient
Escient
Escient, a division of D&M Holdings, manufactured high-end, centralized, internet-connected home AV equipment. The Escient trademark is registered with Digital Networks North America...
, a consumer electronics manufacturer, and operated as a business unit within the Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
--based company. CDDB was then spun out of Escient and in July of 2000 was renamed Gracenote
Gracenote
Gracenote, Inc., formerly called CDDB , is a company that maintains and licenses an Internet-accessible database containing information about the contents of audio compact discs and vinyl records. It provides software and metadata to businesses that enable their customers to manage and search...
.
In 1999, freedb
Freedb
freedb is a database of compact disc track listings, where all the content is under the GNU General Public License. It was originally based on the now-proprietary CDDB . As of April 24, 2006, the database holds just under 2,000,000 CDs...
, an open source
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
clone of the Gracenote CDDB service, was created by former CDDB users as a non-commercial alternative. The track listing database freedb used to seed its new service was based on the data released for public use by CDDB.
The CDDB database license was later changed to include new terms. For instance, any programs using a CDDB lookup had to display a CDDB logo while performing the lookup.
In March 2001, only licensed applications were provided access to the Gracenote database. New licenses for CDDB1 (the original version of CDDB) were no longer available, so programmers using Gracenote services were required to switch to CDDB2 (a new version incompatible with CDDB1).
To some, the decision was controversial because the CDDB database was started with the voluntary submission of CD track data by thousands of individual users. Initially, most of these were users of the xmcd CD player program. The xmcd program itself was an open-source, GPL
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
project. Many listing contributors believed that the database was open-source as well, because in 1997, cddb.com's download and support pages had said it was released under the GPL. CDDB claims that license grant was an error.
U.S. Patent 6061680
CDDB, in July of 1999, filed an application for a U.S. patent titled Method and System for Finding Approximate Matches in Database. The patent is described as:- "Entertainment content complementary to a musical recording is delivered to a user's computer by means of a computer network link. The user employs a browser to access the computer network. A plug-in for the browser is able to control an audio CD or other device for playing the musical recording. A script stored on the remote computer accessed over the network is downloaded. The script synchronizes the delivery of the complementary entertainment content with the play of the musical recording."
The patent was issued in May 2005, and has since been referenced by 66 other patents.
Initial Lawsuit
After Gracenote's change in licensing, RoxioRoxio
Roxio is a division and brand of Sonic Solutions . Roxio branded products are sold online, through over 15,000 retail outlets, to organizations through volume license agreements and pre-loaded onto OEM PC's and devices...
made the decision to find another free music-recognition provider. In response to the competition, Gracenote filed a lawsuit with the patent at the base of its claims.
- "Gracenote, company that owns CDDB database, has filed a lawsuit against Roxio, Adapatec's spin-off company that develops Easy CD Creator (the most popular CD burning program in the world). Lawsuit is about Gracenote's CD recognition system; Roxio/Adaptec has used the technology in its Easy CD Creator and has paid all the licensing fees as they were supposed to, but now they didn't continue their contract that expired 22nd of April with Gracenote and have plans to use similar open-source database called FreeDB.org. Gracenote says that FreeDB, and therefore also Roxio, violates its patents and trademarks."
Roxio filed a motion to dismiss the case on the ground that the patent claim by Gracenote was invalid due to previous art. The court granted the motion and agreed in part, rendering one patent in question invalid due to previous art.