Posts tagged patent
BrightEdge Secures ‘Share Of Voice’ Patent – MediaPost Communications
Apr 13th
 MediaPost Communications |
BrightEdge Secures 'Share Of Voice' Patent
MediaPost Communications Now, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued BrightEdge Technologies, an enterprise SEO platform provider, its first patent that measures share of voice in search engine rankings. Jim Yu, CEO at BrightEdge, and one of the patent inventors, … Woosamedia.com, an SEO Phillipines Company Is Known for High-end SEO Services Nowspeed Releases SEO Strategy White Paper BrightEdge Announces US Patent for Operationalizing SEO |
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BrightEdge Announces US Patent for Operationalizing SEO – Sacramento Bee
Apr 13th
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BrightEdge Announces US Patent for Operationalizing SEO
Sacramento Bee By BrightEdge SAN FRANCISCO, April 12, 2012 — /PRNewswire/ — BrightEdge, the global leader in enterprise SEO, announced today that it has been awarded its first patent issued by the United States Patent Office. The patent, #8135706, is titled … Woosamedia.com, an SEO Phillipines Company Is Known for High-end SEO Services Nowspeed Releases SEO Strategy White Paper |
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BrightEdge Announces US Patent for Operationalizing SEO – MarketWatch (press release)
Apr 12th
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BrightEdge Announces US Patent for Operationalizing SEO
MarketWatch (press release) SAN FRANCISCO, April 12, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — BrightEdge, the global leader in enterprise SEO, announced today that it has been awarded its first patent issued by the United States Patent Office. The patent, #8135706, is titled … |
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Microsoft’s $1 Billion AOL Patent Buy: Google Loses, Lawyers Win
Apr 9th
Wonder what $1 billion will get you? Depending on your tastes, you can pick up a neat photo app with no business model, or a hefty collection of software patents from a struggling company.
Pending regulatory approval, Microsoft will buy more than 800 patents and related patent applications from AOL for $1.056 billion in cash. Not surprisingly, many of the patents being acquired will help position Microsoft in patent attacks on Google. But they’re not likely to do much to help the tech industry or spur innovation.
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AOL will continue to hold 300 patents “spanning core and strategic technologies, including advertising, search, content generation/management, social networking, mapping, multimedia/streaming, and security among others.” The 300 patents retained by AOL will be licensed to Microsoft non-exclusively, while AOL keeps a license to the patents it’s selling to Microsoft.
Bloomberg reported that AOL was looking to sell its patents in March, and had engaged Evercore Partners to find a buyer. Apparently Microsoft didn’t require a lot of arm-twisting to decide that it wanted to drive home with the patents.
What Microsoft is Getting
The dish on AOL’s patent portfolio is that it has a mix of patents that fit nicely into an anti-Google strategy. Envision IP dug into about 700 patents assigned to AOL.
At the top of the list for Microsoft is likely to be the 77 patents that relate to search. According to Envision, many of the patents that relate to search “have priority dates between 1995 and 2001, possibly giving AOL proprietary technology that dates back to the formative years of Internet development, and more specifically, search engine technology development.” In short – patents that Google might have a hard time knocking down for prior art.
The patent company found that about 140 patents were related to online communications, “covering contact list management, status indicators and visibility settings, group messaging, the use of avatars and icons associated with chat profiles, as well as interoperability technology between various online messaging platforms.”
Another batch, about 80, are browser tech and user interface patents. This includes everything from rendering Web pages to RSS feed tech, cache optimization, and more.
Many of the patents are related to network security, network hardware and routing, and 41 of the patents are related to voice communication.
Finally, Envision noted that 29 of AOL’s patents “could be applied to social networking systems.” This ranges from forum moderation to “access controls and privileges in online communities.”
Gunning for Google
Microsoft isn’t the most profitable company in tech any more, but it’s not exactly digging through couch cushions for gas money either. Still, a company doesn’t drop $1 billion on a patent portfolio just to stick it on the mantle and appreciate its aesthetic qualities. What is likely to happen if the deal is approved?
Software patents don’t do anything to improve Microsoft’s existing portfolio of products. They’re useful to the company only if it thinks it can extract licensing fees, defend itself against existing or likely patent suits, or help it execute patent suits against other companies.
If you look at the collection that Envision has identified, it’s pretty clear they cover many of the businesses in which Microsoft and Google compete. Search, Web browsers, instant messaging, email and social networking are all areas where Microsoft is competing with Google. In many of those businesses, Microsoft isn’t faring so well – or is clearly worried that Google will start to encroach on its areas of strength.
Microsoft has already been trying to jam legal sticks in Google’s spokes for quite some time, though it’s avoided a full frontal attack – so far.
Ballmer’s minions have been arranging back-room deals to siphon licensing fees off of companies selling Android devices. When it can’t do that, it goes to court.
If Microsoft gets AOL’s patent portfolio, and assuming the company’s purchase isn’t hamstrung the same way that the Novell/CPTN deal was, its safe to assume that Microsoft will file patent suits against Google in short order.
What it Means for AOL
The deal gives AOL a little boost in the bottom line, but doesn’t really address the company’s long-term problems. AOL is still seeing its former core business (dial-up Net access) waste away, and its advertising business has not been able to pick up the slack. At the end of 2008, AOL’s revenues topped $4 billion. That dropped to $3.1 billion in 2009, and $2.3 billion in 2010. AOL pulled in $2.1 billion in 2011.
The $1 billion shot in the arm will certainly help in the short term, but it’s like the Daffy Duck show-stopper: AOL can only sell those patents this once. With the announcement, AOL has the applause of investors for a while – but how is it going to deliver more? The patent well is almost dry.
Update: AOL investors certainly seem happy with the deal, pushing the stock up almost 8 points, a whopping 43%! The bump could be due to AOL saying it will “distribute a ‘significant portion’ of the proceeds to restive shareholders,” according to the New York Times. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports the deal is an “essentially tax-free transaction.” The deal also puts at least short-term pressure on investors who had been shorting the troubled company.
Patents: Still a Problem
This deal calls for more than $1 billion to change hands, with zero long term value for AOL’s shareholders or Microsoft’s customers. The only potential here is to protect Microsoft from patent trolls, and/or help Microsoft do a little trolling of its own.
Microsoft could have used the $1 billion to buy a company like Instagram that would help it compete with Google, Apple and others. Instead, it’s pouring the money into a company that’s less relevant by the day, and will likely use its purchase to stifle innovation instead of support it.
If there’s a silver lining here for anyone other than AOL and the lawyers, I don’t see it.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Oracle Rejects Google’s $3 Million Offer to Settle Patent Dispute
Mar 31st
Google offered Oracle $3 million plus less than 1 percent of its Android’s revenue in the hopes of avoiding a trial over claims that Google’s Android operating system has infringed on Java patents. Oracle has rejected the offer for being too low.
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Yahoo Patent Lawsuit: Unfortunate Pre-IPO Timing for Facebook
Mar 14th
With Facebook on the verge of a record-setting technology IPO, Yahoo has filed a patent infringement lawsuit that argues the social network has inappropriately used technology in a way that infringes on ten of Yahoo’s patents. The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in a California federal court, comes at a time when investors are [...]
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Google Street View has Patent, Urination Problems
Mar 5th
Google Street View has often been the subject of controversy. The latest: Google and Apple are facing a patent lawsuit for Street View technology used on the iPhone and iPad, while an urination image is causing legal troubles for Google in France.
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Google Fiber: New Patent Reduces Installation Cost
Feb 29th
In an effort to reduce the cost and time required to connect homes to the Google Fiber network, the company has developed a device that will enable rapid connection to homes without the hassle and cost of digging. In the patent application, Google stated that current connection method “requires significant effort and time” and indicated [...]
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Did Yahoo Tip The Press To Force Facebook’s Hand In Patent Dispute?
Feb 28th
Yahoo is playing the press while trying to force Facebook into licensing between 10 and 20 of its patents.
Yahoo is making fairly standard claims in Web tech circles: that a hotter, younger company is infringing on patents Yahoo registered years ago and now needs to cut the former Web behemoth in on some of the action. But how Yahoo is going about its fight reads more like the script from a political thriller, complete with reportedly dropping a dime to the New York Times.
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“Yahoo contacted us the same time they called The New York Times and so we haven’t had the opportunity to fully evaluate their claims,” Barry Schnitt, a spokesman for Facebook, said in a statement to the newspaper in other media outlets. Publicly, neither company is commenting on the patent dispute but the Times, which appears to have inside access to the story, quoted unnamed sources as saying the two companies met Monday.
We can understand why Facebook is claiming that Yahoo tipped off the Times: the timing does seem orchestrated. Recall that late last year Yahoo started issuing press releases and making public statements about the value of its patent portfolio, which numbers in the thousands. That was presumably part of its strategic review and came at a time when Yahoo was rumored to be looking to divest a chunk of itself to investors.
But it also may have been part of an effort to set the stage for the attack on Facebook. Legalities aside, the timing of Yahoo’s play comes as Facebook waits out a quiet period ahead of its initial public offering. Does the company rattle investors by picking a costly fight with Yahoo over the disputed patents, or does it quietly settle the issue, which reportedly focus on 10 to 20 patents dealing with advertising, Website personalization, social networking and messaging
“Yahoo has a responsibility to its shareholders, employees and other stakeholders to protect its intellectual property,” a Yahoo spokesman said in an e-mailed statement, the company’s only public comment on the spat. “We must insist that Facebook either enter into a licensing agreement or we will be compelled to move forward unilaterally to protect our rights.”
The Times won’t speculate on how much Yahoo is seeking, but its post on the Bits blog did point out recent Silicon Valley licensing deals, and noted this may be the first big test of intellectual property patents in the social networking space.
View full post on ReadWriteWeb
Google’s Patent Battle With Microsoft & Apple Escalates
Feb 22nd
Microsoft has filed a formal complaint against Motorola with the European Commission over what it sees as a clear abuse of its industry standard patents, with Google’s tacit backing. This follows a similar filing by Apple demanding EC intervention.
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