The suits, filed on Wednesday in Chicago federal court name Zillow, RealPage and LoopNet among other infringing on a 2006 patent, "System and method for locating and notifying a user of a person, place or thing having attributes matching the user's stated preferences" (7071842). The patent is about matching people with local preferences, a key to pretty much all current LBS solutions. Earthcomber filed similar suits in past years and claims to have come to agreements, though in at least one case the suit was ultimately dismissed. Zagat reached a deal (APB coverage).
- Paid Content
by Adena Schutzberg on 01/20 at 06:22 AM |
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British Telecommunications has filed a civil suit in a Delaware court alleging that some Google products and services including Android, and its search, music, map, and location-based advertising infringe on one or more of six of its patents.
- PC World
In the wake of the devastation from tropical storm Sendong in central and southern Philippines, Google's Crisis Response Team has deployed a Crisis Map to help users find evacuation centers, donation drop-off points, and official updates from relief agencies.
There's a People Finder tool, too.
- GMA News
Share a Carol with Google Maps Street View lets you create and send a virtual Christmas card with some Christmas carollers singing on top of your own Street View scene.
- Google Maps Mania
by Adena Schutzberg on 12/22 at 06:56 AM |
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Multiple listing services and Realtor associations now have blanket protection from legal claims by a company that holds several patents on location-based Internet search techniques, after the National Association of Realtors raised $7.5 million in licensing fees by Tuesday's deadline [8/16/11].
- Inman.com
Continue reading...
by Adena Schutzberg on 08/23 at 07:13 AM |
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Hotels.com LP last Friday recieved a summary judgement from an llinois federal court judge stating it did not infringe on two mapping/database access patents held by Civix. Hotels.com is one of many companies Civix have sued that use location-based search on their websites. Others include:
U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve granted Hotels.com's motion for summary judgment, concluding that the company had not infringed U.S. Patent Numbers 6,385,622 and 6,415,291, which relate to the location-based searches the site's users make when booking hotel rooms.
The suit against Hotels.com (and Yahoo) dates back to 2006 per a blog post at Westerman Hattori Daniels & Adrian.
- Law 360 (registration required)
- Summary Judgement Document at Legal.com
- other APB coverage of Civix
- via reader Robert
by Adena Schutzberg on 08/23 at 07:04 AM |
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The story is sourced to SEO By the Sea which in turn sites the US Patent Office database:
From the USPTO assignments database, it appears that Google has acquired Facet Technologies interest in the assigment of a number of their patents, which I’ve listed below. The execution data on the assignments is listed as June 21, 2011, and the assignments were recorded with the patent office on August 8, 2010. The USTPO database doesn’t provide any details behind the transaction such as costs or other considerations involved or licensing agreements that Facet Tech might have in place with other companies, or if Google acquired the company, its maps databases or just some of its intellectual property.
Facet was one of the companies way back that collected data for Google. The company has licensed its patents to TomTom. But now it seems Google will own the IP for use in data capture, mapping and suggests the article self driving car development.
There are nine patents and Bill Slawski does a good job arranging and discussing them; check the patents and his analysis out. I have nothing to add!
- SEO By the Sea
by Adena Schutzberg on 08/12 at 02:27 PM |
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