Sling Seeks Exclusion Orders for Infringement of Placeshifting Patents
EchoStar’s Sling Media filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission and is suing Belkin, claiming its Belkin @TV set-top products infringe patents at the heart of its video placeshifting technology.
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Sling, which was acquired by EchoStar in 2007, filed the ITC complaint Tuesday, but sued Belkin and OEM Monsoon Multimedia in February in U.S. District Court, Oakland, Calif., alleging the companies infringed six patents, the most recent of which was granted Jan. 29. The ITC complaint, which also includes Monsoon chip supplier C2 Microsystems, seeks to bar import of the Belkin @TV Plus streaming device, while the suit is for damages.
The first of the Sling patents included in the suit was granted to Sling’s Neal Margulis in May 2010 and describes a remote display system with transcoding and includes a base station that processes programming and generates a digital stream that can be transmitted. The most recent of the patents, granted to Sling founder Blake Krikorian in January, is a method for creating a personal media system with an output buffer that enables video to be distributed via a computer network and viewed and controlled from a remote location.
Sling introduced the first of its products in 2006 and markets the Slingbox 350, Solo and 500, the latter Wi-Fi-enabled and capable of delivering a 1080p stream. The Slingbox encodes video in the VC-1 format for transmission over the Internet and provides an infrared blaster, both of which can be operated remotely to view content from a cable set-top on a notebook PC, smartphone or tablet. The Slingbox uses SlingPlayer software to display audio and video on Microsoft Windows, Apple iOS and Google Android devices. The 2.0.4 version of SlingPlayer software includes a live video buffer to pause, rewind and replay up to 60 minutes of video and a program guide.
Belkin’s @TV line consists of three products, including an entry-level device that delivers a 480p stream and @TV Plus ($149) and @TV Premium ($179) gear. The @TV Plus, which shipped last year and delivers a 480p stream, connects to a DVR, cable or satellite set-top and transmits to a router and the Web where a mobile device using an @TV Plus app can receive TV programming via Wi-Fi, 3G or 4G. Belkin’s @TV Plus mobile app is priced at $12.99, while Sling’s is $29.99.
In marketing the Belkin @TV products, Belkin had “full knowledge that it encourages and induces users to perform acts that constitute infringement” of Sling’s patents, Sling said in its suit. The @TV devices, when “operated as advertised or otherwise instructed,” directly “practice the claims” contained in the Sling patents, Sling said. While Monsoon Multimedia supplies product to Belkin, it also sells similar devices under the Vulkano Flow ($99), Vulkano Lava ($199) and Blast ($249) brands that enable viewing video at a remote location, Sling said. The Blast adds a 160 GB hard drive. The first of the Vulkano products were introduced in September 2011 and Monsoon developed the placeshifting software that drive the devices, the company has said. The Monsoon software was ported to C2 Microsystem chips in early 2012. “Monsoon specifically intends that its users perform acts that constitute infringement” of Sling patents, Sling said. Spokespeople for Belkin and Monsoon had no immediate comment on Sling’s complaint, and we couldn’t locate C2, and a company that said it had invested in C2 had no immediate response to our query.