Google’s name appears once more in a patent infringement
lawsuit, this time filed by GraphOn Corporation, a company responsible for developing
server-based application publishing and Web-enabling software solutions.
The company, which has its headquarters in Santa Cruz, California,
has over ten years of experience in its field, offering “cost-effective,
advanced solutions that help customers access applications from anywhere.”
According to GraphOn, Google is responsible for infringing
U.S. Patent Nos. 6,324,538 (‘538), 6,850,940 (‘940), 7,028,034 (‘034) and
7,269,591 (‘591) which protect GraphOn’s method of maintaining an automated and
network-accessible database. The lawsuit was filed in the United States
District Court in the Eastern District of Texas.
In the lawsuit, GraphOn claims that Google’s Base, AdWords,
Blogger, Sites and YouTube online services infringe these four patents. The company
seeks permanent injunctive relief along with unspecified damages.
“Aggressively protecting the technology represented in these
patent is an important part of maximizing their value to GraphOn,” Robert
Dilworth, GraphOn’s chief executive officer, said in a statement.
GraphOn has already filed a large number of copyright
infringement lawsuits, starting with AutoTrader.com in November 2005, and
continuing with Juniper August 2007, and Classified Ventures, LLC,
IAC/InterActiveCorp, match.com, LLC, Yahoo! Inc., eHarmony.com and
CareerBuilder, LLC in March 2008, all regarding the above mentioned patents.
As we can see, GraphOn is very protective when it comes to
its patents, and the aspect that we all expect to see now is what “unspecified
damages” will mean for Google.
GraphOn obtained the patents subsequently to acquiring
Network Engineering Software, Inc. (NEC) in February 2005. The number of
patents owned by GraphOn is expected to grow even more in the future “as patent
applications on file at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office mature into issued
patents,” as Dilworth explained.
