Widevine is still going after rival Verimatrix with virtually every patent it holds and this time is claiming that encrypting a data stream using a virtual smart card is at the heart of the issue. We think Widevine is in danger of these suits being seen as malicious, since they are always against Verimatrix which is neck and neck with Widevine in the IPTV community, but both companies use techniques which have been tried time and time again in both older and younger companies.
NDS, Nagravision and Irdeto all have existing smart card conditional access systems which have been around since before Widevine existed, but they have also each used systems with no smart card, as have any number of encryption companies that have sprung up recently around IPTV as well as companies like Apple with its iTunes Fairplay system.
It is just possible that Verimatrix is the only company that does things in exactly the same way as Widevine, but we find that fairly unlikely and probably a court will also once it has seen the details of the case.
The Widevine 7,299,292 patent describes a process and streaming server for encrypting a data stream to a virtual smart card client system and the suit was filed in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.
Last year Widevine filed its last lawsuit against Verimatrix which accuses the Verimatrix Video Content Authority System (VCAS) of infringing Widevine’s patent relating partial encryption and has since added another patent to that suit. As a part of that suit, the Widevine patent in question is being re-examined by the patent office, this could just be routine or it could be turned over as obvious or because there is prior art.
All of the other older conditional access companies except NDS us partial encryption techniques that are very similar to those which Widevine has patented, so the outcome to this is not obvious.