Three Companies Say ACR's Patents Are Expiring. The Oldest One Expired in 2016 and Nothing Happened.
Three companies, one of them an ACR patent holder, say the foundational ACR and watermarking patents are expiring and the datasets built on them are commoditizing. Nielsen's oldest patent, US 6,647,548, lapsed in September 2016 and no rival currency followed, while its 2008 watermarking family runs to at least October 2028.
Read the full issue on ADOTAT →What the issue found
- Nielsen's US 6,647,548, priority September 1996, lapsed on an ordinary term in September 2016 with no market change.
- Nielsen's watermarking patents US 10,467,286 and US 11,386,908 benchmark to October 24, 2028.
- Later patents run further: Gracenote's US 9,286,902 to 2033, Nielsen's US 11,562,753 to 2037.
- The $78,512,999 Samsung verdict came September 26, 2025, and covers ACR media measurement, not audio watermarking.
- Each of the three companies pushing the theory profits if it is true.
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