One Agent Settles in REAL Patent Suit

Inman News reports that Thursday Robert Freedman, a Manhattan Beach, Calif., real estate agent settled in the mapping technology patent infringement case. He’s one of 34 defendants in a California suit filed in March. Terms were not disclosed, but Freedman sent a letter to the National Association of Realtors, which has supported defendants to the tune of some $1.3 million, stating they were wrong in dismissing the allegations.

REAL’s lawyers continue to be busy; in April they filed suit against LoopNet. To date no GIS software providers nor search engine firms have been identified in the suits, but my sense is any early success in these cases with any defendant of any size will increase the scope of the suits even further.