Warner, Universal Music Groups Sued on Content-Encoding Patents

The use by Warner Music Group Corp. and Universal Music Group NV of a process for encoding and distributing digital content infringes four patents for rights management and content security technologies, Blue Spike LLC alleges in federal lawsuits in New York and California.

According to a complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Warner Music’s use of the high-resolution MQA format with songs distributed through streaming services infringes the patents. And, in a separate complaint filed Tuesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California, Blue Spike alleges that ...