There has been some movement in a pair of lawsuits involving the HD Radio data and voice transmissions of radio broadcasters.
A federal judge has denied a request by Wyncomm and an affiliated company, Delaware Radio Technologies LLC, to dismiss the declaratory judgment suit filed against them by iBiquity Digital in 2014.
The HD Radio developer claims in court documents that patents held by Wyncomm and DRT are invalid. Those patents are the focus of a patent infringement suit filed by Wyncomm, that targets 14 radio broadcast groups and their HD Radio signals.
Judge Gregory Sleet last week also granted a request by the radio broadcast groups to consolidate their suits and continue a stay until the iBiquity suit is concluded. The tech company does not comment on active cases, according to spokesman Joe D’Angelo.
The HD Radio developer in court documents asserts it has a “contractual obligation to indemnify the broadcasters” in the co-pending patent infringement suits brought by Wyncomm and DRT against the broadcast groups. The broadcasters named as defendants in HD Radio lawsuit are Beasley Broadcast Group, CBS Radio, Clear Channel (now iHeartMedia) parent CC Media Holdings, Cox Media Group, Cumulus Media, Entercom, Entravision, Greater Media, Hubbard Radio, Radio Disney, Radio One, Saga, Townsquare Media and Univision.
Wyncomm and DRT are seeking licensing fees from broadcasters for using HD Radio technology to transmit their signals. The plaintiffs first filed suit against the radio broadcasting companies in Nov. 2013, alleging the broadcasters are infringing on three patents is owns, including patent # 5,506,866 entitled “Side-Channel Communications in Simultaneous Voice and Data Transmission.” All three patents have since expired.
Previous attempts by Radio World to contact Wyncomm and DRT for comment have been unsuccessful.
