Modavox Cashing In On AOL’s Tacoda
Thursday, online broadcasting media production firm turned software provider Modavox, announced that it is filing a law suit against behavioral targeting firm Tacoda, as reported in ClickZ. Modavox is claiming that Tacoda has violated its patent on a “Method and System for Adding Function to a Web Page.”
There is speculation that Tacoda’s pending acquisition by AOL could have triggered the patent infringement suit. The patent is said to cover technologies that serve customized multimedia content and advertising to its users. The patent was filed for in 1999 and given to Modavox in 2003 while it was operating under the name SurfNet Media Group.
Nathaniel Bradley, CTO and chief product officer of Modavox stated, “We really focused on Tacoda a long time ago when they came out with their whole business model. Tacoda is one of many potential infringers out there. It’s impossible for us to sue everybody.” Other competitors he mentioned were AlmondNet and Revenue Science.
Tacoda did not comment on the suit.
Bradley continued that Modavox was a crucial part of the Tacoda game plan when originally developing their behavioral targeting system. He said, “We have a hard time believing…we weren’t part of their due diligence, their thought process, along the way.”
There was an admitted account of the AOL acquisition in the filing of the Tacoda suit. In July, AOL decided to purchase Tacoda for $275 million to improve on the Advertising.com ad network’s behavioral targeting features.
Modavox launched its new Interactive Media Division and purchased Kino Interactive last year, boosting its rich media delivery capabilities. One of the companies that Modavox provides audio and video content and ad delivery services to is Gannett’s AZCentral.com whose USAToday site initially utilized Tacoda for its behavioral ad targeting.
This will only be the beginning of litigations for patent fraud from Modavox and other patent holders.
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