The US Patent and Trademark Office has officially granted a patent to Apple that relates to podcasting. Apple’s invention titled “Techniques and systems for supporting podcasting,” pertains to improved podcasts and techniques that facilitate their use.
The improved techniques pertain to creating, publishing, hosting, accessing, subscribing, managing, transferring, and/or playing podcasts. Apple credits Anne Jones, Thomas Dowdy, Jeffrey Robbin, Mike Wiese and Stephen Davis as the inventors of granted patent 8,245,924 which was originally filed in Q2 2009 and refilled as a continuation patent in Q3 2011.
Apple patent figure 5A, shown above is a screenshot of a network address submission page. Oddly, the patent figure shows the word “iPodcast,” which is not mentioned anywhere in the granted patent.
Apple released a standalone app for podcasts for listening and subscribing to audio and video podcasts on iOS devices.
Pantently Apple points out that while some reports are saying the patent win means Apple now owns the word “Podcasting,” PA doesn’t see it that way. Saying it’s not a trademark win, it’s a patent granted for “Techniques and systems for supporting podcasting,” which “pertains to improved podcasts and techniques that facilitate their use.”
