Patent Trolls Beware! U.S. Supreme Court May Make It Harder for You to Win

Everyone in the tech industry is acutely aware of the massive amount of claims of patent infringement. It frequently seems that virtually no company is immune from such claims, given the relative ease of patent issuance and the breadth of coverage of many of those patents. As a result, patents are frequently used as business weapons. And, several companies exist that do virtually nothing other than collect pools of broadly granted patents and then send demand letters claiming infringement. Some refer to these kinds of companies as "patent trolls" -- and many believe that those companies do nothing more than "shake down" others with demands for substantial amounts of money.

Well, patent trolls beware -- the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear Microsoft's appeal of a $290 million patent infringement verdict against it. Microsoft argues that the patent it purportedly infringed is invalid and, therefore, cannot be enforced. The price issue on which the U.S. Supreme Court will rule is whether Microsoft would need to demonstrate invalidity by "a preponderance of evidence" (i.e., essentially more than 50%) or, instead, by "clear and convincing evidence" (which is a much higher bar that must be crossed). Right now, the relevant standard is the higher "clear and convincing" standard.

Microsoft has interesting allies in this fight -- including arch-nemeses Apple and Google.

And, many in the tech industry will be on Microsoft's side on this one.

Minneapolis -- Vacation Capital of the U.S., Here I Come!

Readers, I will not be posting for a while and until after the Thanksgiving holiday -- heading over the river and through the woods back to the lovely frozen tundra from whence I came -- Minneapolis. Our annual family tradition -- my daughter's birthday (on Thanksgiving this year!), Mall of America (more fun than you think), "A Christmas Carol" (at the renown Guthrie Theatre), visiting the annual Christmas Village downtown at Macy's, Boggle tournaments (we are all very competitive), Apples to Apples (another great family game), and the depression that flows from watching my Minnesota Vikings inevitably fall apart on their own turf. And, all of this with temperatures hovering in the 10-20 Fahrenheit range -- how festive!

Until then -- Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Amazon, the Movie -- Online Giant Becomes Movie Producer

Very interesting indeed ... and very "left field." Online retail giant Amazon has moved into the heart of Hollywood by opening up an online movie production company -- complete with a "first look" deal with traditional movie giant Warner Bros. (FYI -- "first look" means that Amazon must first give Warner Bros. the opportunity to buy a script before shopping it to other studios.)

Not surprisingly, this is not your father's movie producer, however. "Amazon Studios" gives budding screenwriters -- this could be you! -- the opportunity to submit their scripts online for consideration. Scripts will be available for comment/rating by the general community who visit the site. And, then, those that are rated the highest will be reviewed by a panel of experts (which apparently includes execs from the retail giant). So, no need to maneuver past the casting couch to get your scripts noticed. Trust me -- your script will be read (at least by the community). These folks are rabid (understandably) for a break -- and this is democratization of the Hollywood process big time.

But, will any Amazonian screenwriters hit the big time? Chances are long. But, at least they have one more avenue to try (as well as the support -- or not -- of other writers making their path through the Amazon).

Let It Be! The Beatles Finally Go Online via iTunes

Steve Jobs' seemingly never-ending "Long and Winding Road" to get The Beatles catalog of music online has finally reached a successful end. Starting today, The Beatles songs will be available -- exclusively -- via iTunes (so reports the Wall Street Journal).

Quite the odyssey for Apple v. Apple Records -- in fact, the two companies originally battled each other via the courts over Jobs' right to use the "Apple" name for his company. The Beatles won that battle via a settlement.

Fast forward years and years and years -- and, now, the two Apple's have reached an esprit de Core. And, it is the power of music that finally brought them together, as The Beatles have been the most prominent hold-out for making their songs available online. It is also the power of commerce, of course, as it just happens to be the Christmas Season.

So, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. And, LET IT BE! (it finally is!)

Hulu Time Machine -- Today & Yesterday (When First Announced in March 2007)

Online video leader Hulu -- which features primarily premium TV programming -- just announced important metrics for the first time, including: (1) 2010 revenues will reach $240 million (more than double its $108 million take in 2009); (2) 41% of every $1 generated by video content is ad-driven, whereas 30% is subscription-based; and (3) the service now streams 260 million non-advertising videos from 235 content partners.

Sounds pretty good but, of course: (1) $240 million revenues is only a drop-in-the-bucket for the major media companies (i.e., certainly not setting the world on fire); and (2) the service continues to suffer from schizophrenia caused by being owned in significant part by cable operator Comcast (read more here), which has no desire to see Internet TV (i.e., over-the-top distribution) win the day -- for this reason, Hulu's content offerings still are very limited in the scheme of things.

That is the current "State of the Union" for Hulu.

What was "then"?

I looked back at my initial blog post about the then un-named Hulu back in March 2007 when the overall concept and project was first announced. Click this link to read my first impressions. Among my thoughts at the time, I continue to believe in the power of "personal video" -- especially now with the explosion caused by "anytime, anywhere" mobile HD video capture. I just blogged about this yesterday.

Encoding.com Licenses Sorenson Technology - Coopetition at Its Finest

I am pleased to report that Encoding.com -- a Cloud-based provider of encoding services -- has just become the latest licensee of Sorenson Media's ubiquitous Sorenson Spark codec (both on the encoding and decoding side). (Here is the official story as reported on CNBC's site.)

"What? Isn't Encoding.com a competitor in Sorenson Media's encoding market?", you may be asking?

To a certain extent, the answer is "yes." There is some overlap between that service and our own recently launched Squeeze Server managed Cloud-based encoding service. But, we at Sorenson Media believe our target markets are very different indeed -- we squarely target the enterprise with our differentiated solution, whereas Encoding.com's service is geared more to the individual or SMB (small-to-medium business) user in our view. Here is my earlier post about how we believe our Squeeze Server service stands apart from all other Cloud-based encoding services.

And, regardless of the differences, both companies believe that there is plenty of business for all of us. We also believe that a bit of healthy "coopetition" doesn't hurt anyone. It also doesn't hurt that Encoding.com's President Jeff Malkin is a good guy, good partner, and smart business leader who understands the unique power of Sorenson Media's technology -- and how Sorenson Spark plays a critical and necessary role in the online video and encoding eco-system. Sorenson Spark is simply the most pervasive video codec in the world -- our technology was the first to enable video playback within Flash years ago, and our technology was the first used by YouTube to encode videos. (Oh yes, our video codec technology also was the first used by Apple to enable video playback within QuickTime.) That means that over 1 billion online video files -- which continues to grow each day -- need to be "Sparked" for playback.

That is why our list of Spark and codec licensing partners -- which includes some of the biggest names in the technology world such as Qualcomm, Verizon, LG, Samsung, Lenovo, Sony, YouTube, Adobe and Apple -- continues to grow and grow. Our video technology and expertise -- honed over the course of 15 years -- is second to none.

NEW "Squeeze Solution Pack" -- Via New Partnership with Aspera & RightScale

Yesterday, we announced new Squeeze Server in conjunction with the annual Streaming Media West event (here is Streaming Media's "take" on our launch). On the heels of that announcement, today we unveil new "Squeeze Solution Pack" which takes Squeeze Server one important step forward, especially for post-production houses and media companies (here is the announcement via Forbes).

This new even-more-targeted Cloud offering gives two additional critical benefits for post-production houses, media companies, and other customers with very large files and volumes:

(1) accelerated file upload to the Cloud (which is essential for high volume large media files); and

(2) automated Cloud server management (which is essential for optimization of server utilization and, therefore, cost efficacy).

Squeeze Solution Pack -- another innovative industry first offering -- is brought to you as result of Sorenson partnering with the best and brightest companies in their respective spaces: Aspera (accelerated file uploads) and RightScale (automated Cloud management) -- both of whom (like us) also are partnered already with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Both partners moved mountains with us to realize this innovative vision in record time with their ingenuity and dedication.

We are thrilled to be partnered with them.

WATCH Squeeze Server Demo Here First

If a picture speaks 1,000 words -- imagine what a video can do.

Watch this video demo of new Squeeze Server in action -- by VP Product Development David Dudas -- click this link.

NEW Sorenson Server-Side Transcoding -- A Squeeze of a Different Color

You asked for it. You got it. At long last -- Squeeze Server. All the great quality that you have come to expect from Squeeze -- but now for the job volumes and workflows we, quite frankly, previously couldn't handle.

This is a big deal for us (and we hope, for you, the enterprise); Squeeze Server represents a significant expansion of our "encoding first" mantra here at Sorenson Media. We now believe we have an encoding solution for just about every workflow -- with Squeeze Server serving as a complement to Squeeze 6.5 (our award-winning desktop application).

We believe that Squeeze Server is the first true enterprise-grade managed Cloud-based encoding/transcoding solution (other services focus on the individual encoder -- not on the enterprise's unique needs). And, we give you a chance to easily and instantly try it all for free -- check it out here by clicking this link -- and, check out VP of Product Development David Dudas' screencast demo-ing how it all works by clicking on this link.

Click on this link for the full press release -- including the main features and benefits that flow from Squeeze Server:

(i) high volume encoding;

(ii) highest quality results (achieved via our home-grown advanced pre-processing filters, industry-leading codecs, among other things);

(iii) massive potential cost savings as compared to DIY self-hosted transcoding solutions that utilize FFmpeg or some kind of purchased encoding software that sits atop your own servers (by our calculations, you can expect to pay over $200,000 just to set up your own basic encoding "farm" -- compare that to our $499/month per dedicated instance via new Squeeze Server ($6,000/year));

(iv) massive potential opportunity cost savings by utilizing your video bays actual high margin revenue-generating production activities (rather than for low margin non-core high volume/heavy file encoding jobs);

(v) widest array of encoding "recipes" -- presets -- via our innovative Preset Exchange (check it out -- we think it's pretty cool);

(vi) innovative industry-first video-focused URL/workflow shortener, Vid.vu; and

(vii) full integration into our Sorenson 360 publishing platform (so that your full end-to-end workflow is covered).

And, from Sorenson ... our brand that we believe (and hope) you uniquely trust because we have been doing this for 15 years (and many of you already use our products -- something that means an awful lot to all of us over here). We want you to entrust all your encoding/transcoding needs to us -- so that you can focus on your own business.

So, given all of that, why struggle with doing it yourself? Encoding is complex, time-consuming, and frequently frustrating stuff that is not for the faint of heart.

So, how is Squeeze Server different from other managed Cloud-based encoding services in the marketplace? Ahh, let me count the ways:

(1) We put our Sorenson Media name on it -- that means Sorenson award-winning and differentiated quality . We we believe (and hope) Sorenson Media is a name you trust. We aren't new to the complex game of encoding like all other managed service solutions -- we are a real company that has been here for 15 years ... and will be here for you; one important tangible benefit of this is that you have direct access to our trained Support professionals -- and, believe me, these are real professionals (not simply some call center);

(2) We uniquely do not use open source FFmpeg -- we developed our own differentiated award-winning Squeeze encoding engine over the span of years and years; this is hugely important not only to ensure the highest quality treatment of your videos, but also to ensure that you have everything you need on the business front (that is, officially licensed and sanctioned industry-leading codec implementations). You may not know this -- but you should! -- that virtually every other managed encoding solution uses FFmpeg and has not obtained all appropriate business licenses (which could mean real risk to you); click here to my read my earlier blog post on this important subject;

(3) We uniquely give you, the enterprise, dedicated server instances so that all of your encoding jobs are prioritized at all times! -- unlike other managed services, your files don't take a number and stand behind others;

(4) We uniquely give you a full SLA and guaranteed 99.9% uptime, in addition to real, trained, knowledgable and caring Support;

(5) Unique not-available-elsewhere innovation, including our Preset Exchange and Vid.vu URL/workflow shortening features mentioned above; (as an aside -- you MUST check out our completely overhauled new Preset Exchange -- I personally think it is very very cool);

(6) We are developer-focused and "friendly" -- we offer ample reference code and well documented, RESTful APIs on our newly and completely revamped Developers site -- click on this link to access our completely overhauled Developers site; (while on our site, check out our VP Product Development David Dudas's post to developers); (and, speaking of "friendly", check out the number of steps in our experience compared to the other guys);

(7) We are fully mobile -- supporting mobile upload and management (as well as relevant reference applications in our Developers site); and

(8) We offer significantly more value to the enterprise -- while others price at approximately $2.50/GB per NON-dedicated server, our $499/month per dedicated instance package equates to approximately $1/GB.

So much more to say, but now it is time for us to do. This is a new product launch for us -- and we want your candid feedback. Send it directly to my attention at bizdev@sorensonmedia.com (but, to be clear, we aren't exactly new to this -- we have been partnered with leading consumer site Shutterfly since July with a fully managed server-based encoding/hosting solution).

Until then, happy Squeezing!