British startup sues Spotify for alleged patent infringement over ‘Remote Group Session’ and ‘Jam’ features

British startup Bluejay Technologies has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against music streaming giant Spotify, alleging that the latter’s “Remote Group Session” feature, and its successor “Jam,” infringe on one of its patents.

The startup claimed in a lawsuit filed August 2 in the US District Court for the Central District of California that the two Spotify features infringe on Bluejay Technologies’ US Patent No. 11,627,344, titled “System for Streaming.”

Bluejay, founded in 2014, developed a system that allows one person, acting as a host, to curate and share a streaming playlist with friends in real-time. Listeners could join the session and experience the music simultaneously, replicating a virtual DJ experience.

After developing that system in 2015, Bluejay launched its streaming service and became an “Internet broadcaster,” licensed by the PRS and the PPL in the UK, it said in the filing. The company then sought capital and held B2B discussions with streaming companies and music labels.

The company alleges they pitched their concept to Spotify in 2018, showcasing their application’s functionalities. Despite Spotify having shown interest in the application during meetings, Bluejay said it “heard nothing more from Spotify.”

Bluejay “knew Spotify was interested in the technology because it kept referring to it or similar engagement features, in public statements and media,” the startup said in the complaint, which can be read in full here.

Spotify eventually launched its Remote Group Session feature in May 2020, allowing up to five Premium users to listen to music or podcasts together remotely. The feature allowed participants to join a remote Group Session by receiving an invitation via SMS, messaging apps, or social media. By opening the link or scanning the Spotify code, the Spotify app would automatically launch and prompt users to join the session, where they could listen to a simulated broadcast together.

It was replaced last year by a feature called Jam, which allows up to 32 users to collaboratively create a playlist in real-time. With Jam, Premium users can invite others to contribute to a shared queue, enabling each member to add songs for real-time listening.

Bluejay claims that these Spotify features infringe on its patent as they “provide a method of simulated live broadcasting of a programmed audio music playlist session from a host device to multiple recipient devices over an Internet network.”

The startup is seeking a court order declaring that Spotify infringed on their patent, and monetary damages to compensate for the alleged infringement.

Spotify is also facing a lawsuit over its decision to classify its Premium subscription as a “bundle.” Spotify asked a US federal court in June to dismiss The Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC)’s lawsuit, saying it would be “a substantial waste of time and resources” for the case to go forward.

However, The MLC’s lawyers hit back at Spotify recently, saying: “The MLC opposes Spotify’s proposed motion to dismiss because it is based on mischaracterizations of the well-pleaded allegations in the MLC’s complaint, new purported facts that go well beyond or contradict the MLC’s pleading, and merits-based arguments that are inappropriate on a motion to dismiss.”

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