Amazon.com sues Discovery as patent spat intensifies

Back in March, Discovery Communications, which produces the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Amazon.com over the Kindle reader's electronic security technology. Now Amazon is firing back. The Seattle online retailer on May 15 sued Discovery, claiming the company infringed on four Amazon patents.

Amazon alleges Discovery infringed on four of its patents related to search query and recommendation technologies. Amazon seeks unspecified damages in the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Western Washington (pdf, 92 pages).

Separately, in U.S. District Court in Delware, where Discovery filed its initial lawsuit, Amazon on May 15 defended itself against the Discovery claims (pdf, 26 pages).

Representatives of Amazon and Discovery Communications could not immediately be reached for comment.

Update: Discovery provided the following statement via e-mail:

We are in the process of reviewing Amazon's response to our patent infringement complaint regarding the Kindle and Kindle 2. Discovery remains committed to protecting its intellectual property assets and we have continued confidence in the merits of our case. We look forward to vindicating our position in court.

With regard to Amazon's infringement claims related to our e-commerce business, we are in the process of reviewing those and will respond appropriately in due course. On their face, it appears that Amazon's complaints are unrelated to our patent regarding electronic book technology.

Update: Amazon spokesman Craig Berman said in a statement, "Amazon.com continues to deny Discovery’s allegations of wrongdoing and we will vigorously defend ourselves."

About Eric Engleman

ERIC ENGLEMAN is senior technology staff writer for TechFlash and the Puget Sound Business Journal, covering online retail giant Amazon.com. Engleman tracks Amazon's increasingly complex business, spanning ecommerce, Kindle, cloud computing, and more. He's been covering technology and other industries for the Business Journal since 2003.

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