Judge dismisses infringement lawsuit against Google products
December 23, 2006
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) - A federal judge has dismissed a company's lawsuit that claimed Google Inc was infringing on its patents for two popular Internet search and advertising products.
US District Judge John Shabaz said in a ruling Thursday that Google's AdSense and AutoLink products do not infringe on the patents held by HyperPhrase Technologies LLC and its subsidiary, HyperPhrase Inc.
The four patents in question, all by inventor and company official Carlos de la Huerga, involve the storage and retrieval of electronic medical records. The patents cover a technology that creates links between one medical record and a second, related record.
The lawsuit filed in April claimed the patented technology was being used in two of Google's common products: AdSense, which provides text-based advertising and keyword targeted ads, and AutoLink, a toolbar feature that links to information such as maps, package tracking numbers and vehicle identification numbers.
HyperPhrase, which has offices in Madison and Mequon, Wisconsin, asked for unspecified damages and for Google to stop using the technology.
In a highly technical 25-page ruling, Shabaz granted Mountain View, California-based Google's motion to dismiss the claims.
He said the AutoLink software does not infringe on the patents because it identifies databases, not a data reference such as a medical patient's identification number, to produce links to information.
"AutoLink performs a completely different function in a different way to achieve a different result," Shabaz wrote.
As for AdSense, the judge said HyperPhrase's claims of infringement were "nonsense"....
Author: Observer Reporter
Source: Jamaica Observer
