Vimeo and Match facing BT patent infringement claims

Video streaming website Vimeo and dating site operator Match Group. Inc will face a patent infringement suit after a US district court partially rejected claims brought by British Telecommunications (BT).

The US District Court for the District of Delaware ruled on Monday, February 4, that two of BT’s infringement claims would proceed to trial.

In an amended complaint filed by BT in June 2018, the British telecoms company accused Vimeo and Match Group, both subsidiaries of New York-based InterActiveCorp (IAC), of infringing six of its patents (US numbers 6,240,450; 6,397,040; 6,578,079; 7,243,105; 7,974,200; and 9,177,297).

From May to July 2018, the IAC subsidiaries filed separate motions to dismiss BT’s claims, citing insufficient evidence of infringement. The district court found that BT had made “plausible” arguments for infringement of the ‘105 and ‘200 patents.

In its opinion, the court found that Match Group’s motion “misconstrued BT’s infringement contentions” with respect to the ‘105 patent, which covers a method for automatically updating user profiles.

The court also ruled that Match Group had raised issues of claim construction that were “not suitable for resolution at the motion-to-dismiss stage” of the case.

Vimeo’s motion to dismiss the claim of infringement of the ‘200 patent, “Transmitting and Receiving Real-Time Data”, was also unsuccessful. Vimeo argued that not all elements of its video streaming service were covered by the patent but the court found that Vimeo had failed to sufficiently argue its interpretation of the patent.

In a defeat for BT, the court invalidated the remaining four patents after finding that they were directed towards patent-ineligible subject matter.

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