There is no way in the world that Zax or any company holds a patent on record and transmit at the same time in 2021 even with the US patent system being as completely F'd as it is. There would be prior art going back decades. Now a specific implementation on a specific technology that is incorporated within the realm of record and transmit maybe. But it would be so specific as to not be an issue to get around. Zax may be a patent troll company suing every thing that moves hoping some thing sticks. I don't know I haven't dug into it. But I have a really tough time seeing them enforcing a patent on record and transit writ large
Is this supposedly a hardware paent or a software patent? If software then good. I like to see Americans getting bit in the ass by their own greedy money grubbing get rich quick schemes.
I’m guessing by your reply, you don’t work in the industry, because as crazy as it sounds, yes they do(Google it. And there are numerous threads in other professional production and audio boards on the topic). Most of us have been amazed and dumbfounded for YEARS by this. And yes, it has stood up to repeated challenges. Yes, there is prior art and should never have been granted a patent for the basic recording while transmitting idea(telling that this patent is only for the US and was never attempted or granted in any other country), but still the US patent system/judges have allowed it to stand. It was almost/temporarily brought down last year, at least part of it, but upon “appeal” or re-application or whatever it’s called in the patent world when they amend or add information/change their argument, it was upheld, again. And even crazier, they have been able to force other companies to disable the headphone/audio output jacks on their standalone “mini”recorders(not wireless transmitters)(US models) when they are recording.
I’m not a fan of Zaxcom for this very reason, but they are not a patent troll. They are an actual practicing, product producing company serving the high-end/upper echelon of audio in TV/movie production.
Now on to the interesting part of this concerning Rode. Some of the speculation/theory(some claim to have spoken to Rode and had it confirmed) is that because the system operates at 2.4GHz(not in the UHF spectrum as most professional wireless systems currently do), it gets around Zaxcom’s patent. Other theories speculate on the internal non-removable memory/media. And yet another theory is that Rode and Zax came to a licensing agreement(Zax is on the record as willing to license their patent) and Rode is not a competitor to Zaxcom(yes they both make audio products, but for vastly different markets. Think Honda Civic vs. Ferrari). I don’t buy any part of the argument that they aren’t competitors, because they have enforced it on other “down market” companies. Also interesting is that I do not believe the Rode system will ship with the ability to simultaneously record and transmit. It will supposedly be added in a future firmware update. I think that is a key piece to this all...