Back to Intellectual Property News
Patent Infringement Suit Filed Against Yahoo! Inc. by DDB Technologies
Monday, April 26, 2010
Austin, TX -- After settling the long outstanding litigation with MLB Advanced Media L.P., DDB Technologies L.L.C. (“DDB”) has sued online media giant Yahoo! Inc. (“Yahoo”). The patent infringement lawsuit against Yahoo!, which was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas (Austin Division), follows two separate suits filed by DDB in the same court in the past couple of weeks against ESPN, Inc. and NFL Enterprises, LLC.
The asserted patents are currently licensed to SportsLine.com, Inc. and to MLB Advanced Media, L.P., which cover a range of advanced interactive media–based technologies.
President of DDB and lead inventor Dr. David Barstow commented, “Filing a lawsuit against Yahoo! is the next logical step for the DDB patent licensing program. I think we have made it clear to the interactive sports media market that we plan to aggressively protect our intellectual property.”
The DDB patent portfolio consists of U.S. Patent Nos. 5,526,479; 5,671,347; 6,204,862; 7,373,587; and a pending continuation application (collectively, the “DDB Data Driven Portfolio”). The DDB Data Driven Portfolio discloses technologies that enable services such as, but not limited to:
- Live simulation of a sporting event
- Play-by-play text, graphics, and animation
- Generating information about the state of the game
According to Michael McLaughlin, Principal and Founder of IPinvestments Group, who serves as the licensing agent for DDB, “Numerous companies are offering live sporting event simulations in a way that infringes the DDB patented technologies. Several companies have known about the DDB patents and choose to ignore DDB’s efforts to engage in meaningful licensing discussions.”
DDB is represented by McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP (Chicago, IL) and Winstead PC (Austin, TX). If you are interested in a license to the DDB Data Driven Portfolio, please contact Michael McLaughlin of IPinvestments Group.
About DDB Technologies, L.L.C.
DDB Technologies, located in Austin, Texas, is an intellectual property holding company established to capitalize on the value of its patented technology. The technology described in the patents supports a variety of interactive media services related to sports events. The company’s President and Founder, Dr. David Barstow, has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University and is the lead inventor of the technology. Dr. Barstow is an internationally recognized authority in Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering.
Back to Intellectual Property News
