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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].
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
