Irvine and Brentwood, Calif. (April 23, 2009) –LeadPoint, Inc. and Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq: ABTL) today announced that, along with Internet Brands and Insweb Corporation., they have entered into a settlement agreement resolving Autobytel’s lawsuit filed against LeadPoint, Internet Brands and Insweb in the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division, relating to Autobytel’s U.S. Patent Number 6,282,517 for lead technology.
The settlement agreement also resolves a patent claim filed by Insweb, Internet Brands and LeadPoint against Autobytel and others in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of California related to Insweb’s U.S. Patent No. 6,898,597 for lead management technology.
“We are very pleased to have reached this settlement with LeadPoint, which enables us all to continue the very important task of leveraging the unique power of Internet technology to help our customers weather this challenging climate and to begin exploring ways in which our firms can work together,” said Jeffrey Coats, President and CEO of Autobytel Inc.
“We are glad that an amicable resolution to this litigation has been reached,” said Marc Diana of LeadPoint. “We look forward to exploring the possibility of commercial opportunities with Autobytel leveraging our pioneering lead technology platform.”
The terms of the agreement are subject to certain confidentiality restrictions.
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Commentary:
We have joked here in the past about patents and the ownership of intellectual property and how many can be very silly. Well, this one is too far off. US Patent Number 6,282,517 explained in my words, take a read to build your own interpretation, revolves around form analytics and tracking. How many fields did a consumer fill out prior to exiting the form? What products did the consumer view? These are just of few of the things this patented process covers. On the surface, many of the features are not only used by the four companies mentioned in the lawsuit, but 100’s of others across the industry. This is the probable reason for the settlement.
Do you know more about this patent? Is there something I am missing?
Interesting. I wonder if it was a mutual cease-fire, or if some $ actually changed hands. The quotes make it sound like leadpoint had the upperhand somehow.
John, long time no talk.
Donkey is busy playing these days!
I’ve been more focused on non lead gen businesses lately….a lot of mobile and related…feeling a little out of touch w/ regards to some of the nuances in various lead industries these days. Hoping to make it up to NYC for Jay’s next LeadsCon though….can’t believe I haven’t made it to one of his events yet.