AOL, Google, IAC, Gannett and Target Charged With Infringement of Search Engine Patents by I/P Engine Inc.

NEW YORK, Sept. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AOL, Inc., Google, Inc., IAC Search & Media, Inc., Gannett Company, Inc. and Target Corporation were named today in a patent infringement lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for unlawfully using systems that incorporate features claimed in two patents owned by I/P Engine, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Innovate/Protect Inc.  I/P Engine's patents are directed to relevance filtering technology.  This technology is used in the search engine industry to produce better search results, and has also become the dominant technology used in search advertising to position high quality advertisements.  

Andrew K. Lang, Chief Executive Officer of I/P Engine and co-inventor of the patents, said, "These patents, which we own, apply to relevance filtering techniques that are fundamental to the technology employed by the defendants in their highly profitable search business.  The defendants have infringed on our patents.  We are committed to upholding our rights with respect to these patents.  We have the resources and focus to assert our intellectual property."  

I/P Engine acquired the patents-in-suit as part of a portfolio of patents it purchased from Lycos, Inc. ("Lycos").  Originally, Lycos obtained the patents-in-suit when it acquired WiseWire Corporation, an entity founded by Mr. Lang with Donald Kosak as a founding member of the management team.  Both Mssrs. Lang and Kosak are inventors of the patents-in-suit.  As part of that WiseWire acquisition, Messrs. Lang and Kosak joined Lycos, Mr. Lang as Chief Technology Officer and Mr. Kosak as Senior Director of Engineering.  Messrs. Lang and Kosak are now shareholders and members of I/P Engine's executive team.

I/P Engine is represented by Dickstein Shapiro LLP, a nationally ranked Intellectual Property Practice which was named among the best in the United States by Chambers USA, Managing Intellectual Property and Intellectual Property Today.

About I/P Engine, Inc.

I/P Engine, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Innovate/Protect Inc., an intellectual property firm founded in 2011.  I/P Engine holds eight patents that were acquired from Lycos Inc.  

Contact:
Micheline Tang/Stefanie Goodsell  
Kekst and Company
(212) 521-4800

SOURCE I/P Engine, Inc.