December 22, 2011
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Joe Jefferis
Nielsen and comScore Wednesday settled a lawsuit over patents, a move that should have digital ad buyers (and sellers) breathing a little easier.
The companies both will continue to provide their measurements that show how many people view different websites—which is, of course, a major determiner of how much ads cost.
As part of the agreement, Nielsen will buy $19 million in comScore stock, which does not allow it to vote and which the company must hold for at least a year. ComScore gets ownership of the Nielsen patents named in the suit. The two companies also will cross-license their measurement technologies, and have agreed not to bring patent infringement suits against each other for at least three years.
The tussle began in March when Nielsen, citing some 30 products of comScore's, filed an infringement suit over patents that measure and display online content. (Two of the patents originally were owned by Jupiter Media Metrix, which sued Nielsen over them. Nielsen settled the suit in 2002 by paying $15 million and acquiring the two patents.) ComScore shot back a few weeks later, claiming Nielsen was in the wrong. (See Nielsen's lawsuit.)
In a joint press release, both companies said they were pleased with the resolution.
Magid Abraham, Ph.D., the president and CEO of comScore, said the company also was pleased to "bolster our patent portfolio, enabling the application of this intellectual property to many areas involving the Web, such as ad visibility and Web engagement measurements."
The suit highlights the crucial issue of patent ownership for companies of all kinds.
Startup Kickstarter, for example, is under attack in court by Brian Camelio, a former studio musician for Journey and Phish who some consider the father of crowdfunding. Camelio has a patent for a process similar to Kickstarter's business model—and if Kickstarter is found to be infringing on it, the site could be forced out of business.
Earlier this year, futuristic ice cream company Dippin' Dots, which grew from inventor Curt Jones's idea into a $40-million-per-year company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Part of the reason for the company's downfall: It had to sink a fortune into legal battles, which it lost, about whether Jones properly filed the patents that protected its special freezing process.
And as Mashable points out, Google this summer accused Apple and Microsoft of stifling innovation by hoarding patents relating to wireless technology. Consumers paid a price for this: Google's chief legal officer said the patents added $15 to the price of every Android device.
With the strong push for more innovation, will patent lawsuits like these become more common? What has your experience been with filing a patent?
Image credit: Thinkstock
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Joe Jefferis 4 months ago
It will be interesting to follow the patent application for this exciting cheap hydrogen from plain water technology.http://www.lanl.gov/news/releases/cheaper-hydrogen-fuel-cells.htmlStanley Meyer was issued US patents for similar technologies in the 1990's, but died an untimely death before the cheap hydrogen from plain water technology could be globally commercialized.Will history repeat?