Adam Carolla Settles with the Patent Trolls

Comedian and podcaster Adam Carolla has settled with Personal
Audio, the so-called “patent troll” that sued him for infringing on
its intellectual property.

Personal Audio claimed that The Adam Carolla Show and,
by extension, every other podcast violated its patent on
episodic content “in which a host system organizes and transmits
program segments to client subscriber locations.” While many
targets of patent trolls find it easier and less risky to settle,
Carolla tapped into his large audience and fought back with the
money raised through his “Save Our
Podcasts” fund. Reason TV talked with Carolla earlier this
summer about his legal battle, and he had this to say (full video
interview below):

“We sort of felt like, well, it’d be nice for our podcasting
brothers not to give them ‘X’ amount of dollars… When terrorists
take hostages, if you start negotiating with them, they just start
taking more camera crews. We just figured we’d save the next camera
crew. We’ll take the duct tape and the zip ties.”

While the terms of the settlement prohibit Carolla or Personal
Audio from discussing the case until September 30, 2014, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), which will continue to pursue
its own lawsuit against Personal Audio, speculates that Carolla did
not have to pay out anything to Personal Audio. As evidence, they
point to the fact that Personal Audio only weeks ago put out press
releases essentially begging Carolla to
drop the matter altogether.

EFF
breaks down Carolla’s decision to settle into “the good, the
bad, and the ugly”: The good being that Carolla has made the
business of suing podcasters seem a bit less lucrative and the bad
being that settling fails to invalidate the patent altogether. As
for the ugly,
EFF writes:

The most disappointing aspect of today’s settlement is how
unsurprising it is. Almost every defendant, no matter how strong
their case, ends up settling with the patent troll. Litigating
patent cases is extraordinarily expensive. Carolla raised
almost half a million dollars and that still would not have been
enough to fund a defense through trial.

Trolls know this and use the cost of defense to extort
settlements. In the rare case where someone shows a willingness to
fight to the end, the troll will often save its patent at the last
moment with a walk-away deal.

Until Congress quits
ignoring software patent reform, the expensive burden to fight
off frivolous claims will remain on the shoulders of entrepreneurs
like Carolla, or software developer Austin Meyer, profiled in the
video below. But on that front, Carolla is decidely pessimistic.
During his interview with Reason TV, he recounted this story from
his trip to Washington, D.C. to testify before the Senate Judiciary
Committee:

“I got a call about an hour later that said, ‘[Sen. Patrick]
Leahy shot it down,'” says Carolla (4:23). “Leahy,
and the Democrats—even though this is a bipartisan thing—are just
in the back pocket of the trial lawyers’ association… But because
Leahy’s a hero, he did explain that it’s very important. Because,
you know, all those things that are super important, you’re not
going to get to for another year or two. Like when your doctor
says, ‘This is really important,’ and you say, ‘Ok, see you in a
year!'”

“It gave me renewed hope in the system and how one man could
make a difference. Oh wait… it was a total waste of time.”