In July of 2011 Trulia Inc. became the latest online property portal to be sued by CIVIX, a Virginia-based company which claims that Trulia, as well as a number of other companies, infringed on two patents covering a process that enables consumers to search for items of interest in specific geographic locations.
Now Trulia has agreed to pay up to $900,000 to CIVIX and settle claims that it infringed on U.S. patents 6,385,622 and 6,415,291.
The licensing agreement calls for Trulia to pay a minimum of $550,000 to CIVIX, and an additional $350,000 should the company complete an initial public offering. In Trulia’s S-1 registration statement for a planned IPO, the company has paid CIVIX $450,000 thus far.
According to agentgenius.com, CIVIX has sued more than a dozen operators of websites which offer location-based search capabilities, including Move, Inc and the National Association of Realtors, both of which settled with the company.
Zillow opted to pay $850,000 to CIVIX in order to release the company from any claims that it infringed on the two patents in question, and to avoid incurring any further legal fees.
LoopNet Inc. on the other hand, one of the other companies being sued by CIVIX has made the decision to ‘vigorously defend itself’ instead.
LoopNet denies having infringed on the CIVIX patents, because it claims to be covered by Microsoft Corporation’s license, already granted to it by CIVIX (Microsoft powers LoopNet with its software).
Source: Inman News
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Patents damage innovation – ridiculousness, for a patent that is 10 years old.
Agreed, that is so ridiculous. They really should revise the patent, if that is even possible?