Personal Audio No Longer Trolling Adam Carolla

Adam Carolla has reportedly settled the lawsuit that was filed against him by Personal Audio LLC.^[1]  The Agreed Motion to Dismiss Claims is available for review, but the specific terms of the settlement have not been disclosed—the parties have agreed to not make any public statements concerning the litigation until September 30th.^[2]  Nonetheless, there are a few observations that can be made in light of the settlement.

As of today, Carolla has raised $475,352 through his crowdfunding campaign to help pay for his legal defense fees.^[3]  If, however, the lawsuit had gone to trial and Carolla had prevailed on the merits, Personal Audio could have potentially been required to pay Carolla for his defense fees.  The payment of fees could have consequently been a huge deterrent to future litigation by Personal Audio.

Furthermore, Personal Audio’s patent remains valid because the lawsuit never went to trial, and Personal Audio could potentially sue other podcasters for allegedly infringing its patent.  According to Daniel Nazer from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (“EFF”), this is, however, unlikely to happen.  Personal Audio made a press release in July, stating that it had offered to drop the lawsuit against Carolla after learning through discovery that Carolla’s podcasting business does not generate a significant amount of revenue.  Nazer suggests that because Adam Carolla is one of the most successful podcasters in the business, it is unlikely that Personal Audio will sue other podcasters.^[4]

Although the patent is currently valid, the EFF had filed a petition for inter partes review that is scheduled for a hearing in December with an expected ruling by April 2015.^[5]  If the inter partes review is decided favorably for EFF, this could be the final nail in the coffin for Personal Audio’s patent and another victory for all of the trollhunters.