Ameranth Significantly Expands Enforcement of Its Patented 21st Century Communications™ Web/Wireless Data/Display Synchronization Inventions

SAN DIEGO, July 2, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Ameranth, Inc. announced today that it has greatly expanded the enforcement of its broad 'data/display synchronization' patent portfolio, now having filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of California against many of the leading hotel, travel site, ticketing, point of sale and other hospitality companies. New patent infringement suits have been filed against (a) Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, Starwood and Best Western hotel chains, (b) Travelocity, Kayak, Hotwire, Expedia, Orbitz, Hotels.com, Usablenet and Hoteltonight, travel aggregators, (c) Ticketmaster, Stubhub and Fandango ticketing companies, and (d) Micros, EMN8, Mobo Systems/OLO, Orderin, Subtledata , Tabbed Out, Urbanspoon – restaurant point of sale, and/or reservations and/or online/mobile ordering companies. All of these companies are accused of infringing numerous claims of multiple Ameranth patents.

The explosive growth of the use of smart phones, social/affinity group networking, wireless networks, payment processing and mobile wallets on/via smart phones, cloud based computing, and related technologies now make the use and licensing of Ameranth's patents essential to achieve a totally synchronized hospitality system, i.e., the 21st Century Communications™ system – conceived/invented in September 1998 by Ameranth's visionary inventors.

Ameranth's pioneering web/wireless data and display synchronization inventions have been patented (U.S. Patent Nos. 6,384,850; 6,871,325; 6,982,733; 8,146,077 – and with an additional patent pending), have been widely adopted and deployed, and are now essential to the modern wireless/web hospitality enterprise. Ameranth's most recent patent, 8,146,077, was issued on March 27, 2012 following an extraordinarily comprehensive and thorough review conducted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The extensive Patent Office review (inclusive of multiple Supervisory Patent Examiners) considered nearly 200 separate references (including references identified by Ameranth, the Patent Office and multiple third parties). As a result, this new strategic patent allowance decisively confirms the non-obviousness and novelty of Ameranth's family of data/display synchronization patents.

Modern hospitality information technology systems performing functions such as online/mobile ordering, hotel/restaurant reservations, event ticketing, payment processing/mobile wallets on smart phones, frequency, voice integration and related functionality require the use of Ameranth's patented inventions for synchronized operations.

Ameranth already has active patent infringement lawsuits against numerous other infringing defendants; including Seamless, GrubHub, Exit41, PAR, QuikOrder, OpenTable, Agilysys and the three largest pizza chains - Papa John's, Domino's and Pizza Hut. It has already licensed 12 companies – (including Chownow, Radiant, Menusoft, Netwaiter, Brink Software, Savory Mobile, Skywire, Compelcart, Xpient, Munchaway, Ticketmob/Laughstub and Snapfinger), and is in active negotiations to provide patent licenses to numerous additional hospitality industry product/service providers.

"Our licensing program is active and available at reasonable licensing rates to the many hospitality technology companies which need patent licenses. However, as these new suits confirm, we are fully prepared and determined to enforce our patents against infringers to protect the value of our shareholders' intellectual property," stated Vern Yates, Ameranth's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "We are extremely confident of the validity of our patents and we are determined to defeat all challenges to the contrary. Our licenses provide assurance that the companies and their customers and partners practicing Ameranth's inventions have the patent coverage that they need - from this point forward," added Yates.

The adoption of Ameranth's technology by industry leaders and the wide acclaim received by Ameranth for its technological innovations are just some of the many confirmations of the breakthrough aspects of Ameranth's inventions. Ameranth has received twelve different technology awards (three with "end customer" partners) and has been widely recognized as a hospitality wireless/internet technology leader by almost all major national and hospitality print publications, e.g., The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, and many others. Ameranth was personally nominated by Bill Gates, the Founder of Microsoft, for the prestigious Computerworld Honors Award that Ameranth received in 2001 for its breakthrough synchronized reservations/ticketing system with the Improv Comedy Theatres. In his nomination, Mr. Gates described Ameranth as "one of the leading pioneers of information technology for the betterment of mankind."

About Ameranth, Inc.:

Ameranth, Inc. (http://www.ameranth.com) is a recognized leader in the hospitality technology market, having been featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Sun Times, USA Today, Business Week, US News & World Report, Nation's Restaurant News, Hospitality Technology, TIME, CNNfn, San Diego Union Tribune, and numerous other prestigious publications. Ameranth has also been awarded or participated in twelve technology/"best product" awards.

Tel: (888) AMERANTH Fax: (858) 362-0151- (www.ameranth.com)

SOURCE Ameranth, Inc.