TripAdvisor taken to court in patent suit
Travel review website TripAdvisor was targeted in a patent infringement claim last week by an Alabama-based company.
On Friday, November 9, Mimzi took TripAdvisor to court over the alleged infringement of US patent number 9,128,981.
The patent, called “Phone assisted ‘photographic memory’”, covers a system and methods that mine and present information from social network databases to mobile phones in response to a spoken request.
“Accordingly, and merely by way of illustration, inventions claimed in the ‘981 patent are directed to systems and to computer-implemented methods that are configured and operate to provide information to a mobile device user in response to a spoken question, such as ‘Where is the nearest (best, most popular) Chinese restaurant?” said the claim.
Jim Geer, the inventor of the patent and president of Mimzi, hit headlines in 2016 when Bloomberg reported on another patent of his—that one covering a novel technique for tracking stealth aircraft.
After Geer filed for the patent in 2000, the US Air Force declared his invention a national secret and the government issued an order barring Geer from talking about it in public.
“The secrecy order was lifted a decade later, and he received several US patents,” added the claim.
In the current claim, TripAdvisor is reportedly infringing through the sale of products on its app, which is configured to receive either spoken or non-verbal requests from users.
Mimzi also claimed that TripAdvisor is inducing infringement through the app.
“TripAdvisor will benefit from these ongoing infringements because TripAdvisor will continue to generate revenue from the use of the TripAdvisor app,” said the claim.
Mimzi is seeking a permanent injunction, damages, and a jury trial.
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox.
Today’s top stories
Dutch cheese taste not copyright-protectable, says CJEU
Nintendo secures $12.2m from Arizona couple for IP infringement
EU General Court sides with EUIPO in decade-long trademark dispute
