British startup Bluejay Technologies has filed a lawsuit against Spotify, accusing the streaming giant of infringing on patents related to its collaborative music listening features “Remote Group Session” and “Jam.”
The lawsuit, filed on August 2 in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, claims that the Swedish audio streaming company copied Bluejay’s patented technology without permission.
Bluejay developed an app in 2015 that allows users to create playlists and invite friends to listen together.
According to the filing, the startup shared details of its patented technology with Spotify during discussions in 2018. Soon after, Spotify launched its “Remote Group Session” feature in 2020, followed by its DJ “Jam” feature in 2023, allegedly without permission from Bluejay.
During the fundraising phase, Bluejay engaged in “B2B discussions with streaming companies and record labels,” where they provided comprehensive PowerPoint presentations detailing the technical workings of the app.
The complaint mentions that Spotify considered a non-disclosure agreement with Bluejay, suggesting that the streaming entity was aware of the proprietary nature of the technologies being discussed.
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In April 2023, Bluejay was granted a patent for its “Streaming System” technology, which it claims Spotify used in the disputed features. The lawsuit provides a technical explanation for how Spotify’s collaborative listening features allegedly infringe on Bluejay’s patented technology.
Specifically, Bluejay claims that the “Jam” feature, which allows premium customers to restart a session and any user can join, mirrors Bluejay’s own system for managing shared playlists.
“Jam provides concurrent discovery for users in a session where premium customers can restart the session and any user can join the session. The service is promoted as a way to interact, share, and discover music with friends,” the filing states.
“Jam uses Bluejay’s patented technology to provide services in Group Session and Jam (the alleged services) including providing shared playlists, where playlist management rights are limited to the host.”
According to Digital Music News, Bluejay is seeking compensatory damages for the alleged infringement, as well as pre- and post-judgment interest, costs, and attorneys’ fees.
Spotify has not commented on the lawsuit or the allegations made by Bluejay Technologies as of press time.
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