Sourcing with lawsuits
Here is an exercise that may prove of interest to the sourcers in your office. Check out this article first…
Google Wins Dismissal of Patent Lawsuit
By BLOOMBERG NEWSGoogle, the Internet search engine company, has won a dismissal of a lawsuit filed by a Wisconsin company over four patents covering database search technology.
Judge John C. Shabaz of Federal District Court in Madison, Wis., granted on Dec. 21 Google’s request to throw out before trial a patent-infringement suit filed by the closely held HyperPhrase Technologies.
The suit, filed in April, was aimed at the Google toolbar interface used in Internet browsers, its AutoLink feature allowing users to link to information on selected Web sites and AdSense, Google’s technology for placing ads on its site.
Google, based in Mountain View, Calif., also is facing a patent challenge to its Google Earth map-search service, and is in a copyright battle over its Google Book electronic Internet library.
Raymond Niro, the lawyer for HyperPhrase in the case, was not immediately available to comment, according to his secretary. A Google spokesman, Barry Schnitt, did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the ruling.
The disputed patents for storing, retrieving and searching data on computer systems were issued in 1999, 2002 and 2003, according to the United States Patent and Trademark Office Web site.
HyperPhrase, based in Madison, sued Microsoft in 2002, contending infringement of three of its patents, including one involved in the Google case. A federal judge in Madison ruled against HyperPhrase in 2003.
So what jumps at you about this article? If nothing, let me point out what should be obvious to my fellow sourcers.
- Hyperphase Technologies was in a patent lawsuit with Google.
- If there is a patent lawsuit, then the technologies must be similar.
- If Google engineers are people you would like to hire, chances are Hyperphase Technologies’ engineers may be passive candidates you would want to consider as well.
- Hyperphase Technologies’ engineers are skilled in technology related to toolbar iterfaces used in Internet browsers and AutoLink features that allowing users to link to information on selected Web sites and (quite possibly) AdSense, Google’s technology for placing ads on its site.
(Pretty interesting, yes?)
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Very nice. But it begs for a follow-up post explaining exactly how you’d find the lawsuits for a given target company (any particular magic search engine strings?)