Sony Beats inMusic Suit Over Analog-to-Digital Turntable Patent

A New York patent infringement lawsuit against Sony Corp. of America was dismissed because the disputed technology, involving a turntable that converts analog audio to digital, doesn’t qualify for protection.

Audio technology company inMusic Brands Inc. sued Sony last August, alleging that its sale of analog-to-digital turntables infringed inMusic’s US Patent No. 7,567,498.

That invention, however, was directed to an abstract idea not eligible for patent protection and didn’t include “an inventive concept,” Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York said in dismissing inMusic’s complaint.

“The claimed advance of the ‘498 ...