United States Patent and Trademark Office – Patent Pending to Michael Kureth for streaming service technology

Patent Pending: 12/072,276 | Feb 21, 2008

United States Patent
Metropolis Global Theatre allows independent filmmakers as well as studios to be compensated for a film being shown online for a limited time (as in a movie theatre.) This allows advertisements to be displayed prior to a film being shown and provides filmmakers a report on how their film performs in the theatre.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The main business operation of this technology is as follows:

  1. After being accepted, a filmmaker’s video may only be seen by the public by purchasing a ticket
  2. Users/ filmmakers are given worldwide exposure and compensated for their video/ film being shown

The primary operational differences of this technology compared to similar are as follows:

  1. Netflix is available only in the United States as a rental outlet for films with a current studio distribution agreement. It is not in the business plan to allow users to be compensated for their videos being shown, nor will user videos be accepted.
  2. iTunes operates similar to Netflix in acting as a distribution outlet for films with distribution. It is not in the business plan to allow users to be compensated for their videos being shown, nor will user videos be accepted.
  3. YouTube operates as a video sharing service defined explicitly as free to public viewing. The function of allowing users to be compensated has not and will not been implemented as it is not in the scope of the business.
  4. MySpace’s video section operates similar to YouTube in that videos may be uploaded and seen by the public for free. The function of allowing users to be compensated has not and will not been implemented as it is not in the scope of the business.

As with all technical services, future advancements may include:

  1. Output displayed to TV, projection, etc. devices
  2. Quality and device medium enhancements
  3. Membership services