Talk:Kickstarter/Sandbox/Patent dispute (Kickstarter, under discussion)



Patent dispute (section to be included in Kickstarter, debate closed)

 * The following section is an archived draft discussed for a while on Talk:Brian Camelio. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page).  No further edits should be made to this page.

On September 30, 2011, Kickstarter filed a request for declaratory judgment against ArtistShare and Fan Funded who owns U.S. patent, "Methods and apparatuses for financing and marketing a creative work". Brian Camelio, the founder of ArtistShare, is named as the inventor on the patent. KickStarter says it believes it is under threat of a patent infringement lawsuit. Kickstarter has asked that the patent be invalidated, or, at the very least, that the court find that Kickstarter is not liable of infringement. In February 2012, ArtistShare and Fan Funded responded to Kickstarter's complaint notably claiming that patent infringement litigation was never threatened, that "ArtistShare merely approached KickStarter about licensing their platform, including patent rights", and that "rather than responding to ArtistShare's request for a counter-proposal, Kickstarter filed this lawsuit." The judge has ruled, however, that the case can go forward. ArtistShare has responded by filing a counterclaim alleging that Kickstarter is indeed infringing its patent.