Quu sues Broadcast Electronics over visual radio patent
Radio now reaches drivers as pictures as well as sound, and that has become a patent fight. Quu has sued Broadcast Electronics, the equipment maker known as BE, over its TREplus platform.
A customer that left for TREplus
The filing describes a lost client. A major Quu customer has told the company it will cancel its agreement, effective January 2027. Quu says BE approached that customer with TREplus, and the customer cancelled to move over.
Quu seeks damages, including lost profits and price-erosion damages. It also asks for preliminary and permanent injunctive relief.
The 2012 patent behind the dashboard ads
Joseph Harb, a Quu co-founder and its CTO, first filed for the patent in 2012. It covers a method, system and apparatus for interactive radio advertising. In the same year Quu put money into Jump2Go and secured an exclusive license for that company's JumpGate RDS and HD Radio products.
Quu's software lets radio stations put changing visual programming and ad messages on car dashboard screens. Its technology delivers synchronized and visual-only radio content to those screens.
Two offerings are named in the suit. Content Partnership puts an advertiser's visual message on the car screen for 30 seconds, alongside a song or other content. AdSync is a separate product. It lets a station tie a visual message to one specific commercial spot.
Where the case was filed
Quu filed on Nov. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. Its complaint says BE's TREplus products infringe the patent covering Content Partnership and AdSync.
The company on the other side
Broadcast Electronics was founded in 1959. Earlier this year a new ownership group led by Rich Redmond and The Alzana Group acquired it. BE released TREplus in 2023. It says the software handles visual and text data for analog FM RDS, HD Radio, DAB, streaming, apps and station websites.
Redmond and Newberry respond
Redmond, BE's president and CEO, said the manufacturer is aware of the allegations and is reviewing the matter. When Radio World reached him on Thursday, he had no further comment.
Quu president and CEO Steve Newberry said Quu and BE have long existed side by side, with BE selling its older products. "I'm not litigious by nature. But in this case, it was necessary to protect our own intellectual property."
Source: Radio World