Pinterest and Flickr hit with patent infringement rulings

Patent licensing company Marathon Patent Group has secured patent infringement victories against Yahoo-owned photography website Flickr and social media platform Pinterest.

In decisions handed down by the Munich District Court I, TLI Communications, a Marathon subsidiary, was handed victory in both disputes, according to Marathon on Thursday, April 21.

The rulings allow for injunctive relief and include a declaration of liability for damages.

The disputes centre on TLI’s patent, EP0,814,611, which is directed to server resources and/or application software for smartphones and tablet computers which receive and manage digital images.

Earlier this year, TLI also filed infringement claims against social networking sites Tumblr and cloud storage company Box.

A validity hearing is scheduled for November this year, after Tumblr and Box filed for a summary judgment of invalidity.

The impending hearing will not affect the outcome in the Flickr and Pinterest cases unless the ruling goes against TLI, Marathon said.

Doug Croxall, chief executive of Marathon, said: “We are pleased that the Munich District Court has held that the defendants infringe our valuable patent and that we will be able to seek injunctive relief. I would like to thank our legal and licensing teams for their tremendous efforts to date.”