CoolSavings, an internet marketing company based in Chicago with
a patent for its method of using on-line coupons, has settled out
of court an infringement dispute with a Californian rival,
iQ.com.
Although specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed, iQ.COM has acknowledged the validity of the CoolSavings patent and has been granted a limited, royalty-bearing license and an option to an unlimited license, which together would allow for future offerings based on CoolSavings technology.
The suit against iQ.COM was one of eight lawsuits filed by CoolSavings asserting infringement of CoolSavings’ patent covering technology for distributions of coupons via the internet.
Robert Gorman, executive vice president of CoolSavings said: “All these lawsuits recognise the validity of our patent, and in almost every one of these cases, revenue is falling back to us. There’s value in our intellectual property.”
Software and business method patents are available in the US but Europe has not yet decided whether to liberalise patent laws in the same way. A period of consultation on the matter by the European Commission ends today. The consultation paper favours lifting the present restrictions in Europe on software patents but maintaining the prohibition of business method patents.
