(For a longer list, see the wiki page List of lawsuits)
This page presents two lists: headline-making settlements over software patents, and lawsuits initiated over software patents. There are two points to note regarding these lists:
- No patent lawsuit requires proving that the defendant copied the work of the plaintiff, and in almost all of the cases here, there is no evidence that direct copying of any kind occurred.
- There is no comprehensive list of suits or settlements. For every suit here, there are countless others.
| Patent-holder |
Defendant |
Claimed technology |
| Sun |
Trilogy |
“data-processing patents” |
| Autobytel |
Insweb |
Real-time communication of purchase requests |
| Klausner |
Comcast, Cablevision Systems and eBay’s Skype |
selective retrieval of voicemail |
| Hyperphrase |
Google |
parsing |
| Global Patent Holdings |
Boca Resort, Green Bay Packers, Ed Napleton Acura, Orbitz, Peapod, OfficeMax, Caterpillar, Kraft Foods, CDW Corp., Motorola, ADT Security Services, AutoNation, Florida Crystals Corp., HearUSA, MovieTickets.com, Ocwen Financial Corp., and Tire Kingdom |
Images on web sites |
| Eon-Net |
Burlington Coat Factory, J Crew, Walgreen, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Delta Air, Staples, Barnes and Noble, Hammacher Schlemmer, D’Agostino Supermarkets, Foot Locker, Liz Claiborne, and Linens ‘n’ Things |
collecting information via Internet |
| Plutus |
Continental, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler and Mercedes |
language processing |
| Card Activation |
McDonald’s, Sears, Walgreen, Barnes & Noble, Aeropostale and OfficeMax |
Gift cards |
| Antor media |
Dole Food Company, Touch Tunes Music, Inc. Wal-Mart Stores, Circuit City Stores, Alltel Corporation, Gannett Co, McGraw-Hill Companies, Ford Motor, E I du Pont de Nemours and Company, Cisco Systems Inc, and Xerox |
transmitting data |
| Antor media |
Metacafe, Digital Playground, Google, GoTuit Media, Grouper Networks, MacMillan Publishers, MLB Advanced Media, LP, New Frontier Media, PureVideo Networks, SBO Pictures, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Sony Corporation of America, Sony Electronics, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sun Microsystems, Vivid Entertainment, YouTube, Discovery Communications |
transmitting data |
| Implicit Networks |
AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, Raza, RealNetworks, and Sun |
sorting data packets |
| Beneficial Innovations |
Blockdot, CareerBuilder, Cnet Networks, Digg, Ebaum’s World, Jabez Networks, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Weather Channel, The Washington Post, Newsweek Interactive, AOL, The Dallas Morning News, Google, IGN Entertainment, Morris Communications, Tribune Interactive, Yahoo!, and YouTube |
online games |
Here is a sampling of older suits that have already settled. Since Microsoft is perceived as the deepest pockets in the traditional software industry, it is frequently the target for software infringement suits—its 10Q lists the company as currently defending against 45 infringment suits.
| Patent-holder |
Defendant |
Claimed technology |
Settlement |
| NTP |
RIM |
the Blackberry email system |
$612.5 million |
| Acacia |
Various (as of Feb. ’08) |
Various |
$106.6 million |
| Creative |
Apple |
iPod user interface |
$100 million |
| Sprint-Nextel |
Vonage |
VoIP |
$80 million |
| Verizon |
Vonage |
VoIP |
“at least” $80 million, up to $117m |
| Intertrust |
Microsoft |
software security |
$440 million |
| SPX |
Microsoft |
virtual whiteboard |
$60 million |
| Burst |
Microsoft |
data transmission |
$60 million |
| z4 |
Microsoft, Autodesk |
software registration |
$133 million |
| Akamai |
Limelight |
web server organization |
$45.5 million |
| Alcatel-Lucent |
Microsoft |
user interface |
$367 million |
| Total |
|
|
$2.082 billion |