A press release from Acacia Research Corporation announced that its subsidiary Acacia Patent Acquisition Corporati has acquired rights to a patent relating to vehicle location technology. Which patent? They don't say, but they do note:

This patented technology generally relates to systems capable of locating vehicles and providing subsequent services from a remote location. It covers satellite-based location systems, such as GPS, and is applicable to vehicle tracking, vehicle assistance services and other similar services.

This tells me that folks are gathering up such patents for future exploitation as LBS continues to grow. And, interestingly, it creates a market of "middlemen" license those patents. Back in the old days, people kept their patents. When Doug Richardson, now Exec. Dir. of the AAG was on WAMU radio earlier this week, he noted his former company's (GeoResearch) patent on using GPS to make maps using GIS.

In other geo-car related patent news CalAmp Corp. of California filed complaints in US Federal Court against Procon, Inc., Skywatch GPS LLC, and iMETRIK Solutions Inc. for infringement of two patents related to a vehicle location system for" dealers and finance companies to locate and repossess vehicles serving as collateral on loans that go into default." The patents were acquired in an acquisition in March.

- RTT News