Google in the legal crosshairs for alleged patent infringement. Image: Keith Burtis/Flickr.
Internet search titan Google Inc. has unwittingly found itself the target of disgruntled Web development outfit GraphOn Corp. as it continues its apparent crusade to blast out lawsuits against a myriad of companies operating automated and network-automated databases.
GraphOn has filed legal action against Google on the grounds of patent infringement, report industry watchers at BetaNews, who also outline that GraphOn’s complaint has come to the fore following the alleged illegal use of four specific Web technologies in various Google-owned companies.
GraphOn’s lawsuit was filed late last week with the U.S. District Court in Texas and cites offshoot Google properties including the likes of AdWords, Base, Blogger, Sites and hugely popular video-sharing service YouTube, all of which apparently use GraphOn’s patented technology.
The targeting of Google and its associated services by GraphOn comes after the Santa Cruz-based company similarly moved to drag Yahoo, CareerBuilder, eHarmony, Match.com and IAC/Interactive Corp. across the legal coals regarding the same patent violations.
The patents in question include U.S. Patents No. 6,324,538 (also known as “the ‘538 patent”), 7,028,034 (“the ‘034 patent”), 7.269,591 (“the ‘591 patent”), and 6,850,940 (“the ‘940 patent”).
Another patent infringement action, which ended via settlement in January of 2008, was brought against AutoTrader.com by GraphOn and involved two of the four listed patents (’538 and ’940).
According to GraphOn, its ownership of the contentious technology patents came about following the 2005 acquisition of Network Engineering Software Inc.
GraphOn’s legal complaint is requesting that the court grants it unspecified monetary damages alongside a permanent injunction against Google and its named properties regarding the ongoing use of its patented technology.
Erath OolayAug 19th, 2008 - 16:51:15
GraphOn is a Patent Troll.
It is led by a somewhat frustrated old man named Robert Dillworth. Dillworth and his crew were in the shakedown game and acquired some dubious patents that they have tried to leverage. They started by suing Autotrader and Juniper Networks. This was before the famous KSR v Teleflex Judgment. Autotrader did not realize that the company was literally weeks away from Bankruptcy and settled with them for a substantial sum of money. Juniper on the other hand refused to be bullied and asked for a re-examination of the patents.
Subsequent to the settlement with Autotrader, GraphOn sued Yahoo, and several other companies. They then apparently approached Google with an offer to license the technology. Google smelling a shakedown told them to take a hike and hence the lawsuit.
No wait and see what Google does to them. They will surely rue the day they took this foolish step.
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