SAN FRANCISCO – A Texas man alleges his patented technology was used without permission for audience participation in the reality TV show "Big Brother."
Edwin Lyda filed a complaint on Nov. 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against CBS Interactive Inc. alleging patent infringement.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that he was awarded the ‘243 patent titled Response Apparatus Method and System on Oct. 7, 2008, and the '506 patent titled Method and Apparatus for Response System on June 1, 2010, a method for collecting the response data at a central location, processing the data and broadcasting the result so as to show transparency and results in real time.
The plaintiff alleges the defendant infringed and induced infringement through audience voting for the benefit of its interactive reality TV show "Big Brother." The plaintiff holds CBS Interactive Inc. responsible because the defendant allegedly continued to induce infringement by continuing to broadcast interactive television shows, and have utilized and benefited from using a method invented by plaintiff without any consent or license.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks judgment against defendant, damages, interest, costs, and further relief as the court may deem just. He is represented by Duncan M. McNeill of Law Offices of Duncan M. McNeill in San Francisco and David Fink of Fink & Johnson in Houston.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Case number 3:16-cv-06592