Paul Allen's Interval Licensing patent complaint takes aim at Google, Apple, others

Summary: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sued a bevy of technology companies including AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix and others for patent infringement.

Updated: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sued a bevy of technology companies including AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix and others for patent infringement.

Interval Licensing, a research firm hatched in 1992, is suing those aforementioned Internet companies for patent 6,263,507 among others. The patent was issued for an invention revolving around browser navigation in a body of information and audiovisual data.

In a nutshell, the patent goes to the core of what these companies do. The Allen complaint (PDF and Scribd below) states:

AOL, Apple, eBay, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo, and YouTube’s acts of infringement have caused damage to Interval, and Interval is entitled to recover from Defendants the damages sustained by Interval as a result of Defendants’ wrongful acts in an amount subject to proof at trial.

Also: Paul Allen is no patent troll

Other patents include 6,034,652, 6,788,314, 6,757,682. All of the patents involve e-commerce and search process. In the complaint, Interval Licensing specifically calls out Google.

For example, Interval Research served as an outside collaborator to and provided research funding for Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page’s research that resulted in Google. Indeed, a Google screenshot dated September 27, 1998 entitled “About Google!” identifies Interval Research in the “Credits” section as one of two “Outside Collaborators” and one of four sources of “Research Funding” for Google. See Sept. 27, 1998 Website “About Google!” attached as Exhibit 1.

Mr. Brin and Mr. Page also recognized Interval Research’s funding in the “Acknowledgements” section of their 1998 research article entitled “Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine” in which they “present Google.”

Here's the Google exhibit referenced by Allen:

In a statement, Allen spokesman David Postman said:

This lawsuit is necessary to protect our investment in innovation. We are not asserting patents that other companies have filed, nor are we buying patents originally assigned to someone else.  These are patents developed by and for Interval.

Is Allen a patent troll? Ed Bott argues that Allen is anything but.

Here's the complaint:

All en Suit

Topics: Legal, Apple, Google

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96 comments
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  • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

    Very little chance of getting very far in court since he waited so long to enforce the patent.
    mrlinux
    • I Agree! ...way too long. Over 10 yrs!

      @mrlinux It's just Larry's way of taking swipes at Google. His favorite Corporation to hate on (them and Adobe). I think they are all going after Patent Armageddon though. Maybe just to kill Software Patents once and for all. Which are pretty lame to begin with. Oracle was always totally against patents and now they're suing Google, how moronic is that? Maybe they should all sue each other into oblivion and just start over. But at least some Liars (I mean Lawyers) will be happy! .....oh... and of course Larry!!! ...if they promise to leave Microsoft out of it, that is! ;)
      i2fun@...
    • Wrong.

      @mrlinux

      Nice try and you may know Linux but you are clueless about patent law. (Most linux people are.)
      NoAxToGrind
      • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

        @NoAxToGrind

        Clueless? I think that software patents are pretty retarded: People throwing up a red flag on your service because it "looks like something we invented"
        jkltechinc
      • That and the ridicuous lawyer bashing.

        These people seem to be against freedom and the rewards of working hard to earn your way and to be able to have ownership or what you work so hard for.
        They bash lawyers, so I guess they'd prefer to live in a society where the courts define all of the nebulous language coming from lawmakers and setting all precedent rather than having those (lawyers) who fight to protect the rights of the people be able to help define the law the people must live under.

        They also are either for the very very wealthy, or for socialism because they feel the person with the most money, or resources should always win. Without patents law, that would always be the case because the "little guy" could never protect his work nor own it nor see any benefit from it because it woudl be stolen and used the minute it appeared to be catching on.

        Or they are Apple enthusiasts who love a company that steals all of it's ideas and patents said ideas when it can as it's own IP.
        xuniL_z
        • lawyer fighting for freedom?

          Lawyers do not fight for freedom. Plaintiffs and defendants are. Lawyers fight for money. Any patent process costs tons of money, and there goes your little hardworking inventor.

          And patent law is not about ownership of an idea. Idea can not be owned. It is about limited monopoly to execute that idea for the sole purpose of promoting innovation and for benefit of the mankind. If patent law stopped serving that purpose, it should be changed or abolished.
          Darko Simonovic
    • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

      @mrlinux agreed. If I walk through my neighbor's property to get to a public thoroughfare for twelve years and my neighbor does nothing to deter me and at the end of that time sues me for trespass, guess what? He loses. By allowing me to use his property he has ceded the right to that property for that use. English Common Law.
      dheady@...
      • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

        @dheady@...

        Not necessarily. I can think of a case (a friend) who had access to their parking through a lane on somebody else's property. This lane had been in common use by five houses for more than twenty years. New owners of the house at the end, which controlled the lane, succeeded in blocking everybody's access.
        jorjitop
      • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

        @dheady@...

        Actually, the "easement" you refer to typically requires a period of 25 years, daily.
        Jkirk3279
      • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

        @dheady@...
        No such thng, this is not England. We have patent laws and those are what will be applied.
        NoAxToGrind
    • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

      Google Logo created with "The Gimp" Now that's Cool !
      John Biles
      • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

        @John Biles
        I thought they used cryons. Shrug...
        NoAxToGrind
      • Google logo created to exude an illusion of being related to MS Windows....

        Google realized the only way to gain success ultimately was to use a very similar color scheme to Microsoft's logo as a way to seem legitimate and familiar to the masses.
        How cool.
        xuniL_z
    • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

      can't believe he waited 10 years for this, but does time really matter for his chance i court? I thought a patent will last 50 years max if one renew it every 5 years.

      http://www.kwpang.com
      kwpang.my
      • up to 20 years

        20 years is max, and less for some type of patents. Previously there was a hole in the patent system in the USA where one could prolong the starting date of a patent indefinitely. Now (or soon enough) the starting date of a patent will be the date it is filed (Leahy-Smith America Invents Act).
        Darko Simonovic
  • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

    Allen waited 12 years hoping to hit the patent lawsuit lottery. Toss the case out. Next!
    Beechcraft
    • Patent law is 20 years

      @Beechcraft

      All laws have to be upheld or we are anarchists. Don't like the law, change it. Personally I believe patents on software should be limited to device drivers and no more than 14 years.
      osreinstall
    • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

      @Beechcraft,
      Uh, you do know, don't you, that Paul Allen is a co-founder of Microsoft and is second only to Bill Gates as the richest man in America? He needs this money like you could use another dollar.
      tkepner
      • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

        @tkepner Even if you are richer than God, doesn't mean you should not keep looking for more.
        adli89@...
    • RE: Paul Allen's Interval Licensing sues Google, Apple, others over patents

      @Beechcraft Where did you get 12 years from? The patent says July 17, 2001.
      jakesty