In this Corner: Destiny

The Financial Posts's David George-Cosh sums up the market battle between Vancouver' Destiny Media and Toronto's Yangaroo after both companies issued press releases earlier today.

One of the more interesting developments in the radio business right now is the process by which new music travels from record labels to radio stations.

For the most part, whenever the latest single gets released by a label, the song is transferred digitally and decrypted over a secure Web site. It is then configured to be streamed over the air. Amazingly, the market is cornered by two Canadian companies – Toronto’s Yangaroo Inc. and Vancouver’s Destiny Media Technologies Inc.

Both have been battling for market domination ever since music labels started to sniff around their technology, and lately the race has become a “who-can-patent-their-technology-first” dash to the finish line. In the meanwhile, both have lobbed a pair of multi-million dollar lawsuits over patent infringement and defamation at each other. One thing to keep in mind that these are not big tech companies; Destiny Media and Yangaroo are both trading as penny stocks.

Destiny Media announced that it received a “Notice of Allowance” from the US Patent & Trademark Office over one of its digital music distribution patents while Yangaroo reacted swiftly through a press release. “There will be no impact whatsoever from the recent allowance of Destiny Media Technologies Inc.’s U.S. patent application on our intellectual property rights,” said Yangaroo’s president and CEO. “None of our two granted U.S. and Canadian patents, our pending U.S. patents, or our $15 million infringement and $25 million defamation claims against Destiny will be affected.”

Today's press release exchange has heightened the tensions between the two companies rather than solving the remaining issues. It will be interesting to see how Destiny Media’s patent allowance will ultimately factor in their claims.