Volume V

Issue : 1: January 11, 2007

• Cisco Sues Apple for "iPhone" Trademark Infringement
• EFF Backs DontDateHimGirl.com in Defamation Case
• Gang Members Jailed for Identity Theft Operation
• British Pop Charts to Include Internet Downloads
• UK Introduces New E-Communication Requirements
• French Court Rules that Sony Deceived Consumers
• Boeing Employee Fired over Laptop Theft
• Court Dismisses Patent Suits Against Google

Home > Volume V > Issue 1: January 11, 2007 > Court Dismisses Patent Suits Against Google

Court Dismisses Patent Suits Against Google

Search giant Google Inc. avoided a patent trial involving four patents for database search technology, obtaining a dismissal of all claims in a suit brought in April 2005 by HyperPhrase Technologies LLC. HyperPhrase took aim at various Google features including AutoLink, which allows users to link to information on selected websites, and AdSense, Google’s proprietary technology to place ads on websites, for example, with search results.

The District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin (Madison) concluded that Google’s AutoLink and AdSense technologies are not literal infringements or equivalents of HyperPhrase’s claimed technology, and they perform different functions in different ways for different results. HyperPhrase lost an earlier suit against Microsoft in 2002 involving one of the same patents of the Google suit.

For a copy of the decision, visit:

http://www.wiwd.uscourts.gov/bcgi-bin/opinions/district_opinions/C/06/06-C-199-S-12-20-06.PDF