Podcasting in peril? Trial showdown in September
James Logan freely admits that he's never made a podcast.
But he also insists he helped create the medium of podcasting. Logan says that it happened in 1996 — and that he has the patents to prove it.
In a controversial legal battle, PersonalAudio, the company founded by Logan, is suing comedian Adam Carolla's ACE Broadcasting, two other podcasters and networks Fox, CBS and NBC, saying they are infringing on his copyright and owe him money.
The trial begins in September. Carolla has taken to the Web to raise money for legal fees against what he called "patent trolls."
Carolla says he needs $1.5 million to face PersonalAudio in an East Texas courtroom that historically has been favored by patent litigants. So far, Carolla has pulled in just over $370,000 on the Fundanything.com crowdfunding website, including a $20,000 donation from e-commerce giant Amazon.
"The first thing they (PersonalAudio) said was 'Give us $3 million,'" says Carolla, whose show is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the most downloaded podcast ever. When faced with the suit, Carolla said he chose to fight.
Read More: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/talkingtech/2014/05/04/podcast-trial-personalaudio-carolla/8057329/
