ShopSavvy and mobile barcoding, what about Scanbuy, etc.?
ShopSavvy, a company promoted by the T-Mobile Google peeps during the launch of the G1 earlier today. They developed an app running on Android that basically does what Scanbuy set via its ScanbuyShopper mobile app: capture the barcode displayed on a product in the real world and/or at a retail store and let the user know right there and then how much it costs online and/or get access to online reviews. Will ShopSavvy be sued by Neomedia too? What does it mean for other companies in the space in the mobile barcoding space, including 2D? If those patents are not a problem, then we should see money pouring into companies developing apps using the barcode as a point of entry. Why not the guys @ RINEN for OpenTrace.org...
Labels: barcode, environmental-friendliness, mobile, price comparison
posted by Sandira at 11:25 AM
8 Comments:
The power of our application, ShopSavvy, is in our ability to use existing UPC barcodes to help shoppers find better information about pricing and product reviews. There is no need for a 'cuecat' type rollout of barcodes.
Of course, we can easily offer retailers the ability to offer additional information to shoppers if they wish.
On the patent front, the USPTO rejected all 95 NeoMedia barcode patents and as a result NeoMedia dropped their action against Scanbuy. We have filed more than 20 provisional method patent applications for ShopSavvy, but our intent isn't to use them offensively, buy only as a defensive position against possible litigation that we may experience.
http://theponderingprimate.blogspot.com/2008/07/us-patent-office-rejects-all-ninety.html
I am happy to chat further if you wish, Alexander Muse, SocialNinja at Big in Japan 214.550.2003
@ biginjapan
NeoMedia has NOT dropped it's patent infringement lawsuit against Scanbuy. NeoMedia announced during it's September conference call that they will continue to aggressively pursue litigation against Scanbuy.
NeoMedia has a suite of twelve issued patents covering the core concepts behind linking the physical world to the electronic world dating back to 1995. These patents cover various linkage methods including: Barcodes, RFID, Mag Stripe, Voice, and Other machine readable and keyed entry identifiers.
http://neom.com/13.html
The USPTO recently issued an Office Action regarding the re-examination of NeoMedia's U.S. Patent number 6,199,048. The re-examination procedure is a standard legal process that occurs in the natural course of business -- this is not an "out of the ordinary" event. It is not unusual for the USPTO to preliminarily reject claims during the re-examination process. This initial action is non-final and will be subject to a review process. The '048 patent is presumed to be valid, intact and enforceable during the re-examination process.
While NeoMedia respects the USPTO's finding, it will leverage the due process opportunity to respond to the ruling and defend the patent that it believes valid under patent law. Based on prior successful patent defenses, NeoMedia is optimistic that the single patent in question will be confirmed and the re-examination effort will have served to verify the strength of the patent.
NeoMedia has a strong and valuable patent portfolio in the arena of connecting barcodes to content over networks that has been successfully defended in the past. This re-examination was limited to only one of NeoMedia's many patents, and none of its other patents are affected by the re-examination.
Of course, I am not a lawyer, but my reading of the USPTO decision was a fairly straightforward rejection.
With regard to Sandira's original suggestion that we may infringe on NeoMedia's patent, we still have no idea HOW our method would infringe. We simply read barcodes...
@ biginjapan
This was a "non-final" rejection.
http://i35.tinypic.com/nnjnz5.png
NeoMedia's patent lawyer has submitted his formal response to the USPTO. The USPTO now has 60 days to make their final ruling on the patent.
As for ShopSavvy, your application is most certainly infringing on multiple NeoMedia patents.
For example:
Patent #6,993,573
A camera-enabled cell phone that is adapted to image a machine readable code such as a bar code, decode the bar code, send the bar code data over the Internet to a resolution server that will return an associated URL that will link the camera phone to content on an information server. Thus, by taking a picture of a bar code symbol, the camera phone will automatically retrieve content from the Internet that has been linked to that bar code.
Here's a wild idea ..... How about respecting the intellectual property that has been developed by another company and actually license their patents instead of blatantly infringing on them.
According to NeoMedia's CEO Iain McCready, "Our willingness to share our expertise and license our IP are important factors in helping the industry gain momentum right now. We have developed flexible and creative IP licensing models that respond to the varying needs in the marketplace.
StreetStylz - ah, I understand your confusion. We don't take a picture of a barcode. We don't send that picture or data to a URL. We don't really do anything mentioned in the patent you cite.
We respect all intellectual property. Of course there is no reason you would be able to determine if we infringe on your patent (i.e. I assume you are Sean from NeoMedia) because you have no idea what our application does (i.e. pertaining to the methods you claim in your patent). ScanBuy clearly infringes your patent (i.e. assuming the USPTO agrees your method is novel), I don't think ShopSavvy comes close.
Sean, also contrary to your assertion that the NeoMedia litigation continues, please find the attached stay of litigation based on the patent reexamination:
http://w2.eff.org/patent/wanted/neomedia/notice-of-stayed-litigation.pdf
@ biginjapan
You state: "We don't take a picture of a barcode. We don't send that picture or data to a URL."
I never stated that you do. What you've just described is Mobile Visual Search. This is the type of technology and process that Mobot uses.
NeoMedia's patents do not cover that process. Instead, NeoMedia's patented process (Indirect encoding) entails linking the target information to an index in a 1D UPC/EAN or 2D barcode. The code reader on the mobile phone scans the barcode and sends the code data over the Internet to a central resolution server that will tell the mobile phone what action is associated with the index, i.e. access a URL, price compare, download media, initiate a phone call, ect.
Patent #6,651,053 — Interactive system for investigating products on a network
An interactive search system for use with a global computer network, e.g., the Internet, using a search identifying barcode to rapidly and effectively obtain a supply of related information for presentation to a user. A computer, either landline based or mobile, may be used to input a UPC code, taken from a package or advertisement or prestored in the computer, to an implementing server on the network. The server contains a database of product and manufacturer identifying UPC codes and uses the input UPC code and the database to identify the manufacturer and is programmed to then perform a search of the network to locate sites relating to or operated by the manufacturer. Also, the server may search the network on a product basis to locate other sites containing the UPC under search. Using “parsing” technology, the server “pulls out” the product description, transmits it to and places it in a random access memory (RAM) or storage of the computer, and proceeds to perform further searching relying on the product description to uncover relevant information. Accordingly, using a single input, a collection of product-related and manufacturer information is quickly assembled in the computer available for a user’s consideration all at once at any time.
@ biginjapan
On the surface, ShopSavvy really isn't much different than the now defunct Scanbuy Shopper application.
http://www.scanbuyshopper.com
Scanbuy Shopper was found to be infringing on NeoMedia's patents. Unfortunately Scanbuy did not want to license NeoMedia's IP so Scanbuy is no longer developing the mobile Shopping application.
There's a new movie opening this Friday called, Flash of Genius. It's a about a man who in 1960 invented and patented the modern day windshield wiper. However, the automobile industry refused to acknowledge his contribution and actually stole his invention claiming it as their own. So Robert Kearns embarked on a quest for recognition.
He started legal actions against Ford in 1978 and Chrysler in 1982. By 1995, after many court battles reaching to the Supreme Court, he had received approximately $30 million in compensation for their "non-deliberate" patent infringement.
You may also find NeoMedia's European patents of interest:
http://v3.espacenet.com/results?IA=neomedia&sf=q&FIRST=1&CY=ep&LG=en&DB=EPODOC
Regards
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