Clear Channel is being called on the carpet to justify a patent it obtained for a system and method of creating digital recordings of live performances. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) says the patent should never have been granted in the first place and that it "locks musical acts into using Clear Channel technology and blocks innovations by others."

Theodore C. McCullough, an attorney with the Lemaire Patent Law Firm, who helped EFF file the patent challenge leading to the reexam tells Earvolution:

"The granting of reexam means that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has determined that there exists a substantial question of patentability. Put another way, it means that the patent office thinks that there is a real issue as to whether the patent should have been granted in the first place, and they are going require that Clear Channel explain how their patent is different than the prior art submitted by EFF. As a practical matter, it means that EFF will able to contest the validity of the Clear Channel Patent all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, if necessary."