Patent case against Google not entirely Wrong - Court

Google suffered a setback in the patent infringement case filed against it by HyperPhrase Technologies, LLC, when a special appeals court declared that the previous judgment on the case was not absolutely correct.

In April ’06, HyperPhrase Technologies, LLC and HyperPhrase Inc. had filed a lawsuit against Google claiming that Google had infringed four of its patents while making its AutoLink and AdSense tools.

Google AdSense is a fast and easy way for website publishers of all sizes to display relevant Google ads on their website's content pages and earn money.

U.S. District Judge John Shabaz had ruled the case completely in favor of Google as he said there was not any infringement of patent rights in both the technologies. This decision was given in December last year.

But in a recent judgment given by a U.S. federal appeals court, it has been declared that Shabaz made an error when he dismissed the claims involving Google's AutoLink feature, whereas his judgment on AdSense technology was right and has been retained.

"The district court's grant of summary judgment is affirmed in part and vacated in part, and the case is remanded," declared the court.

The controversial Autolink technology by Google adds links to the page one is viewing, if it recognizes certain types of information on the page, including street addresses, vehicle identification numbers (VINs), and international standard book numbers (ISBNs). This makes using and searching the Internet faster, easier and more informative.

"We're very pleased that the Federal Circuit agreed that AdSense does not infringe any of HyperPhrase's patents," said Michael Kwun, a lawyer for Google.

"We continue to believe the remaining claims in the lawsuit are without merit, and will vigorously defend against those claims," he added.

Following the decision, California based Google’s shares rose 1.4 percent to close at $710.84.

The court has again sent the case to the lower district court where all the evidences will be seen in detail and further proceedings will take place.

The ruling can be viewed at the web link:
www.cafc.uscourts.gov/opinions/07-1125.pdf.