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GraphOn Sues Google & YouTube for Patent Infringement

This One Charges Google’s Base, AdWords, Blogger, Sites and YouTube Online Services with Trespassing On Four GraphOn Patents

GraphOn, the old-line Citrix wannabe, has sued Google and its little friend YouTube in the Eastern District of Texas for patent infringement.

That particular district court is partial to patent holders and their complaints. This one charges Google’s Base, AdWords, Blogger, Sites and YouTube online services with trespassing on four GraphOn patents, to wit Nos. 6,324,538 (the ‘538 patent), 6,850,940 (the ‘940 patent), 7,028,034 (the ‘034 patent) and 7,269,591 (the ‘591 patent).

GraphOn says these patents protect its unique method of maintaining an automated and network-accessible database.

GraphOn wants the usual injunction and unspecified damages.

GraphOn, which has always been litigious, has had a little practice defending these four patents.

It sued AutoTrader.com in November 2005 for infringing the ‘538 and ‘940 patents and announced a license agreement with AutoTrader in January.

Then this past March it sued Yahoo, eHarmony, Match.com, Classified Ventures LLC, IAC/InterActiveCorp and CareerBuilder LLC for infringing all four of the patents.

It’s also got a suit pending against Juniper Networks that it filed in August of 2007 for infringing different patents that GraphOn says protect its fundamental network security and firewall technologies.

GraphOn got the ‘538 and ‘940 patents and the applications that resulted in the ‘034 and ‘591 patents as part of its acquisition of Network Engineering Software Inc (NES) in February 2005. It also got IP, other patents and other patent applications from network software house.

It counts 23 NES patents altogether with more on the way from the patent applications on file at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

In a statement GraphOn CEO Robert Dilworth makes it clear the company’s going to use them. “Aggressively protecting the technology represented in these patents,” he said, “is an important part of maximizing their value to GraphOn.”

GraphOn bought NES for approximately 10 million shares of GraphOn common stock and the payment of NES’ roughly $900,000 in outstanding liabilities specifically for its patent portfolio and licensing opportunities.

GraphOn’s own widgetry accesses applications from anywhere and runs under Windows, Linux and Unix, including Solaris, AIX and HP-UX.

More Stories By Maureen O'Gara

Maureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.

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