StreetSpace lawsuit against Apple and other companies, related to ads

1st September, 2010 by adina
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According to AppleInsider, Apple and its newly-acquired subsidiary Quattro Wireless are two targets, among others, in a lawsuit promoted by the Malaysian firm StreetSpace. The company is managing the Web Station, which is a web-browsing kiosk partially supported through targeted advertising. In this case, the defendants have been accused of violation of US Patent 6,847,969, which relates to systems and methods for providing advertisements and personalized online services in public spaces.

StreetSpace’s patent is said to be violated by the iAd system provided by Apple and Quattro Wireless. Violation consists in using profile, location and history information to personalized ad content. This case is handled through the United States District for the Southern District of California and there is a request for a jury trial. Companies like Navteq, Nokia, Millennial Media and Jumptap are also on the list of defendants. Google and its mobile subsidiary AdMob are not omitted equally.

Unlike other cases of patent lawsuits, the filing of StreetSpace is somehow different because the company has several practical applications already rolled out. In the late 90s, StreetSpace had several kiosks scattered throughout restaurants, cafes, bookstores and other shops in the city of Berkley, California. It had over 30,000 users registered. Other terminals were installed in the Olympic Village, during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Several Malaysian banks, including AFFIN, CIMB and Maybank are also business clients of this company.

As StreetSpace has a tangible product, this could help its case, but the defendants will probably prefer to settle out of court instead of risking the expenses associated with the trial. They could also consider the risk of waiting several years for such a case to complete.


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