Local.com And Dueling Local Search Patents

Jul 2, 2007 at 11:11am ET by Greg Sterling

A flurry of recently granted patents is starting to cloud the local search space. After being granted a patent for location-based search, Local.com this morning announced the awarding of another patent for an “ad supported 411 local search model.” Local.com’s stock shot up 52 percent on the announcement.

The problem is Jingle Networks has a similar patent. And then there’s the looming Geomas local patent that has both online and mobile implications.

There’s also a lesser-known local search patent that Microsoft owns through its acquisition of Vicinity Corp. in 2002.

How all these potentially conflicting local search patents relate to one another is hard to determine and most likely will have to be resolved through litigation at some point.

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Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor at Search Engine Land, and writes a personal blog Screenwerk, examining the broader world of media and advertising. He also posts at Internet2Go, which is focused on the mobile Internet.

See more articles by Greg Sterling >

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