Patent Research
What typically happens after a patent lawsuit? I’ve seen literally thousands of patent infringement lawsuits comes across my desk, and it never ceases to amaze me how they ALL seem to have the same result: a licensing agreement. It seems to me that the lawsuits would be able to be avoided entirely if, prior to launching a service, these companies would have hired a solid patent attorney to research if any infringement was taking place. A recent case study for this process happened this week:
Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), an energy company with 2.1 million electric and 1.7 million natural gas customers located throughout New Jersey, headquartered in Newark, N.J., and Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P., headquartered in Los Angeles, announced this week the settlement of patent litigation between the parties. As part of the settlement, PSEG has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum for a nonexclusive license under a comprehensive portfolio of patents that Katz owns relating to interactive voice applications.
The nonexclusive license covers services offered by Public Service Enterprise Group in the “Energy and Utility Services” Field of Use, including customer service provided via automated systems and live agents. Other terms of the license were not disclosed.
The patents held by Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P. cover a wide range of interactive technology including automated forms of: customer service, prescription refill services, securities trading, merchandising, prepaid services, telephone conferences, registration, home shopping, as well as functions involved in securing information from databases by telephone, interactive cable transactions, and various other uses of toll free and local numbers.
Ronald A. Katz stated, “We welcome Public Service Enterprise Group to the large group of energy and utility companies who have purchased license rights under this portfolio.”
Mr. Katz is the named inventor on a large number of patents primarily in the fields of telecommunications and computing. He also formed Telecredit, Inc., the nation’s first on-line real time credit and check cashing authorization system, and was awarded a patent as co-inventor of that technology.
