Google Inc. and Yahoo! Inc. are now being sued by Xerox. You read that right – Xerox. The company most people associate with copy machines is suing the two biggest search giants over patent-infringement claims.
The suit, which is about patents related to search queries and data integration, was filed Feb. 19 in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware. Xerox is seeking both cash compensation and an order to ‘stop Yahoo, Google and Google’s YouTube from further using the patented Xerox technology without permission’.
Bill McKee, a spokesman for the Stamford, Connecticut-based company, says that the search patents arose because of Xerox research into managing documents online.
“We’ve been in dialogue with Google and Yahoo for some time without coming to a resolution,” McKee said in a telephone interview. “We believe we have no option but to file suit to properly protect our intellectual property.”
One of the patents was filed back in 2004, for a program to automatically generate queries based on keyword searches. Sound familiar? Yep, Xerox says that Google’s AdSense and AdWords software are infringing on that old patent, and that Yahoo’s Search Marketing, Publishing Network and Y!Q Contextual Search software are, too. Wonder why it took so long for them to realize this?
Another patent from 2001 concerns a method of updating pages based on user reviews. Xerox points to Google Maps, Google Video, YouTube and Yahoo Shopping saying they all are infringing and should be forced to pay renumeration.
Response was swift from Google:
“We believe these claims are without merit and we will defend against them vigorously,” said Catherine Lacavera, Mountain View-based Google’s senior litigation counsel.
Sunnyvale-based Yahoo hasn’t yet weighed in, but we can expect similar response. Both California companies are expected to stand strong and not buckle under the accusations from Xerox; – Google in particular has an excellent track record when it comes to beating lawsuits.
The case is Xerox Corp. v. Google Inc., 10cv136, U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware (Wilmington).