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31 May 2016Patents

Google Earth cleared of patent infringement

The US District Court for the District of Delaware has determined that the Google Earth technology, which is used to display refined images of the planet, did not infringe a US patent owned by Art+Com Innovationpool (ACI).

ACI claimed that Google Earth was too similar to its patented technology, referred to as “Method and Device for Pictorial Representation of Space Related Data”, US number RE44,550.

The jury, however, decided on May 27, that the method used by the two technologies is not similar, and therefore Google Earth does not infringe the ‘550 patent.

ACI filed its first patent application back in 1996 after the development of Terravision, a networked virtual representation of the earth based on satellite images, aerial shots, and altitude and architectural data.

During the trial, Google denied infringing the patent, arguing that it used different methods to zoom into a specific point on the Google Earth view.

In addition, Google argued that the patent was invalid as SRI International had developed a program, also called Terravision, one before ACI’s patent application.

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