Process of renting DVDs online granted patent
Published: 25 Jun 2003 14:09 BST
Netflix has been granted a wide-ranging patent encompassing its online DVD rental service, in a win that could pose a legal speed bump to Wal-Mart's entry into the business.
The patent, granted by the US Patent & Trademark Office, covers Netflix's entire process of renting out movies and extends to music, video games and books, the California-based company announced on Tuesday.
Netflix charges a monthly subscription fee for people to rent a specified number of movies on DVD. Subscribers choose their titles on the rental Web site, then Netflix posts the films to them. People can keep a limited number of DVDs for the length of the subscription or swap them for new titles.
The patent grant comes at a critical juncture for Netflix. Though its more than 1 million subscribers mean it commands more than 90 percent of the online rental market, according to the company, rivals such as Wal-Mart and Blockbuster are circling.
Earlier this month, Wal-Mart introduced its own online movie rental service that's priced a notch lower than Netflix's. The retail giant charges $15.54 (£9.34) a month to rent two movies at a time, $18.76 to rent three and $21.94 to rent four at a time. Netflix charges $19.95 a month for three movies at a time.
Netflix spokeswoman Lynn Brinton pointed out the resemblance between the Arkansas-based company's DVD rental process and Netflix's own. "You can't look at (the Wal-Mart service) and not see there's a lot of similarities," she said.
However, Brinton would not say whether the patent grant foreshadows a lawsuit against Wal-Mart.
Nonetheless, having the US Patent & Trademark Office on its side could be a powerful weapon for Netflix in a courtroom dispute, according to legal analysts.
"Issued patents are presumed valid until proven otherwise by clear and convincing evidence," said Alan Fisch, an intellectual-property lawyer and partner at Howrey Simon Arnold & White in Washington.
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