Xerox is suing Yahoo and Google for for alleged infringement of its patents on Internet search and e-commerce.
The 8 page complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Delaware (PDF) says Google AdSense and AdWords, Yahoo's Contextual search software infringes its 2004 patent on a system for automatically generating queries. Xerox also alleges that Google Maps and YouTube, and Yahoo Shopping infringes its 2001 patent on Method and apparatus for the integration of information and knowledge.
Xerox spokesman Bill McKee told BusinessWeek, “We’ve been in dialogue with Google and Yahoo for some time without coming to a resolution. We believe we have no option but to file suit to properly protect our intellectual property.”
Google AdSense and AdWorks programs generates billions in revenue for Google. In Q4 2009 Google earned $2.04 billion, or 31% of total revenue from 3rd-party sites using the AdSense program.
Discussion
By Adoniram on Feb 25, 2010
The latter patent is spectacularly broad. Is Xerox playing for a settlement?
By Nigel Dixon on Feb 26, 2010
I'm sure this will eventually end in a settlement but Xerox have a pretty good case as far as I can see.
By Mir Print on Feb 26, 2010
Aren't they filing suit a little late?
By Tamotsu Matsumoto on Mar 02, 2010
Xerox's patent application JPA_1999203329 (equivalent to US 6236994) was rejected by
JPO on April 16, 2009. Therefore, it is not
effective in Japan.