DISH Technologies LLC and Sling TV LLC (collectively, DISH) filed complaints against Peloton Interactive Inc. on Tuesday in the Eastern District of Texas and ICON Health & Fitness Inc., as well as lululemon athletica Inc. (lululemon) and Curiouser Products Inc. (doing business as MIRROR) on Wednesday in the District of Delaware, alleging that the defendants infringed DISH’s streaming-related patents in their respective fitness streaming services.
DISH, which provides the DISH Network satellite pay TV and the Sling TV streaming service, sued Peloton, which “operates online streaming services through its Peloton Application and Peloton Devices (e.g., Peloton Bike and Peloton Tread)” and ICON, which “operates online streaming services through its iFit® software, which it provides on certain ICON fitness equipment and is made available for download through the Apple iTunes Store and Google Play store.” Additionally, DISH sued lululemon and MIRROR for “operat(ing) online streaming services through the Mirror Application and a flat panel fitness device marketed and sold as the ‘Mirror,’ ” the “ ‘nearly invisible home gym’ that allows users to stream live and on-demand workouts on an immersive display.”
The patents-in-suit in each of these lawsuits are U.S. Patent Nos. 9,407,564 (the ’564 patent); 10,469,554 (the ’554 patent); 10,469,555 (the ’555 patent); 10,757,156 (the ’156 patent); and 10,951,680 (the ’680 patent) either entitled “Apparatus, system, and method for adaptive-rate shifting of streaming content” or “Apparatus, system, and method for multi-bitrate content streaming.” Reportedly, these asserted patents are “directed to various novel aspects and improvements to adaptive bitrate streaming (‘ABR’) technology.”
DISH noted that MOVE Networks Inc. originally owned the ABR patents, which were eventually acquired by DISH. DISH stated that “MOVE invented and patented HTTP-based Adaptive Bitrate Streaming to improve the quality of streamed video content over the Internet.” Accordingly, the ABR patents detailed that “ABR segments the full content file into smaller units (‘streamlets’) in multiple bitrates and delivers them over HTTP / TCP, the underlying protocols used for reliably transmitting data over the Internet.” Moreover, “(s)egmenting the content allows the playback device to easily change bitrates. The result is that today, MOVE’s patented ABR technology allows Internet users to stream content from across the world in real time at the highest possible quality.”
DISH proffered that Peloton infringes the ABR patents through its accused streaming services, namely, the Peloton Application, Peloton Bike and Peloton Tread, which are purportedly “defined by an integrated experience of hardware, software, and content.” DISH noted that Peloton uses streaming technology for its aforementioned products, specifically to provide “‘connected technology-enabled fitness’ and ‘the streaming of immersive, instructor-led boutique classes.’” For example, Peloton allegedly infringes the ABR patents because it segments video content to stream over a network connection and varies the quality based on the “quality of the network connection,” as described in the patents. The complaint detailed the many ways Peloton allegedly infringes these ABR patents.
DISH also contended that ICON’s exercise equipment and iFit software and lululemon’s MIRROR infringe the ABR patents because of their streaming functionality, which allegedly utilize the patented methods, such as segmenting streaming content.
The defendants are accused of direct, indirect, induced, and contributory infringement.
DISH seeks declaratory judgment in its favor, to permanently enjoin the defendants from further infringement, an award for damages and costs, and other relief.
DISH is represented by Baker Botts LLP in all of the actions along with Ashby & Geddes in the ICON and lululemon actions.
