Acacia Research Settles with Cox Radio Over Patent

RADIO ONLINE | , , | :am CT

Acacia Research Corp.'s Aldav LLC unit has reached a settlement and license agreement with Cox Radio. This partially resolves patent litigation pending in the U.S. District Court against several major radio groups for allegedly infringing on a patent that allows radio outlets to replace local content with content for those listening over the Internet.

Acacia filed the claim in a U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against Clear Channel, CBS Radio, Cumulus Media, Citadel Broadcasting, Entercom, Saga Communications, Cox Radio, Univision, GAP Broadcasting, GAP Broadcasting II, Radio One, and the Aloha Station Trust.

In October, U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Davis sent Aldav and lawyers representing the broadcast groups into mediation in hopes to avoid a complicated and highly-technical trial.

According to a previous report by Law360, the patent covers "the replacement of the portion of the content in a radio station broadcast that is distributed over the Internet that is local in nature or otherwise unsuitable for the Internet audience with content that is relevant to the broader audience."

The patent was issued to David D. Minter and Albert S. Baldocchi in June, 2003, and Aldav is the patent's exclusive licensee, according to court papers. Aldav is seeking a judgment from the court that the radio groups have infringed on the patent and an accounting of the damages.