interesting....

http://money.cnn.com/2006...t/?cnn=yes

Netflix wants to shut Blockbuster online rentals
Files suit in federal court claiming service violates patents it holds over its business model.
April 4, 2006: 7:11 PM EDT

PASADENA, Calif. (Reuters) - Online DVD rental company Netflix Inc. sued rival Blockbuster Inc. Tuesday for patent infringement, asking a federal judge in Northern California to shut down Blockbuster's 18-month-old online rental service and award Netflix damages, according to a copy of the lawsuit.

Blockbuster (Research) declined to comment, saying it had not received a copy of the filing.

Netflix (Research) holds two U.S. patents for its business methodology, which calls for subscribers to pay a monthly fee to select and rent DVDs from the company's Web site and to maintain a list of titles telling Netflix in which order to ship the films, according to the patents, which were included as exhibits in the lawsuit.

The first patent, granted in 2003, covers the method by which Netflix customers select and receive a certain number of movies at a time, and return them for more titles.

The second patent, issued Tuesday, "covers a method for subscription-based online rental that allows subscribers to keep the DVDs they rent for as long as they wish without incurring any late fees, to obtain new DVDs without incurring additional charges and to prioritize and reprioritize their own personal dynamic queue -- of DVDs to be rented," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit says No. 1 U.S. rental chain Blockbuster, which launched its online rental service in 2004, was aware that Netflix had obtained a patent for its business method and was seeking a second, but willfully and deliberately violated the existing patent.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who also is an attorney, said it was unclear whether Netflix's challenge to Blockbuster's online service would be upheld by the federal court.

"It's my opinion that it won't be," Pachter said. "Blockbuster detrimentally relied on their silence as consent. If in fact (Netflix) feels so damaged they should have sought injunctive relief before Blockbuster rolled out its service."

Hmm. If Blockbuster loses, they're really going to be screwed being that their rental stores are hurting so bad.

TMPletz said:

it will die in the arse

why did netflix wait so long to claim damages? are their profits suddenly dropping?

sallysassalot said:

I have no idea... kinda like the article said, they should have started this from the beginning if they had issues.... I love my netflix but I have no idea if this is gonna work out for them....

ReturnofDOOK said:

i love me some netflix, too. i've watched 3+ seasons of dallas in about 2 months! netflix has helped me find my inner sue ellen!

No way they win this suit.

i hope they take blockbuster down.

cborgman said:

Even though I never use either of their services, I have to disagree. With no competition, Netflix would have a monopoly on this specific type of market, and you would REALLY not want that.

TMPletz said:

damn you and your logic!

cborgman said:

TMPletz said:

KHAAAAAN!!!

(i know it's wrong, it's just fun to yell)

cborgman said: