2008 Woodie Awards
NU files lawsuit against Google over technology
Kate Augusto
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Northeastern, along with the private search technology company Jarg Corp., are suing Google Inc. for patent-infringement.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 6 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall, states that Google, Inc. in 1998, took liberties to use a database system patented by Northeastern professor Kenneth Baclawski in 1997. The patent is for an efficient search technology, like the one Google uses.
"We want to try and have Northeastern receive as much compensation as Northeastern can under the circumstances that will result from this particular claim … and that's for the process of the legal system to grind until the resolution," said Michael Belanger, president of Jarg Corp.
Jarg Corp, co-founded by Baclawski and Belanger in 1998, is a Waltham-based company that has exclusive rights for use of the patent in association with Northeastern.
Belanger said they were alerted to the situation a little more than two years ago by a Boston area law firm familiar with the patented technology recognized some aspects of the technology in an online Google presentation. Belanger would not disclose the law firm name.
"We believe the complaint to be without merit based upon our initial investigation," said Google representative Jon Murchinson in an e-mail to The News. He declined to comment further.
Northeastern officials and Baclawski also declined to comment on the lawsuit.
While Belanger has no expectations in terms of a time frame for when the lawsuit will play out, Michael Attaya, an intellectual property attorney for the Boston-based law firm Cesari and McKenna, said cases filed in Marshall usually take about two to two-and-a-half years to get to court, which is about six months less than the waiting time for such lawsuits in other courts.
Attaya said a large amount of patent lawsuits are being filed in the Eastern District of Texas since one of the federal judges, Judge Ward, showed an interest in patent litigation a few years ago. During this time, Attaya said Ward single-handedly wrote procedural rules to apply to all patent infringement cases and this, coupled with the fact that at the time he had relatively few cases on his docket, promoted this district as quick and plaintiff-friendly.
"Northeastern probably thinks this is an appropriate and favorable forum for them, like lots of people who have brought patent cases there. They like that the time to trial is faster … and that [when judges] handle more and more of these cases, they tend to get very familiar…with this area of law," Attaya said.
Attaya said that of the patent infringement cases that have gone to trial in Marshall in the past, over 50 percent have won.
However, Attaya estimated that more than 80 percent of all of these types of cases settle either before they go to trial or before a verdict is made.
Attaya said the length of the trial depends on the complexity of the case. The shortest are probably a week or two and some of the longer ones have been more like four weeks, he said.
If a settlement is made, Belanger said Jarg and Northeastern will split it 50-50 according to their licensing agreement.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 6 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Marshall, states that Google, Inc. in 1998, took liberties to use a database system patented by Northeastern professor Kenneth Baclawski in 1997. The patent is for an efficient search technology, like the one Google uses.
"We want to try and have Northeastern receive as much compensation as Northeastern can under the circumstances that will result from this particular claim … and that's for the process of the legal system to grind until the resolution," said Michael Belanger, president of Jarg Corp.
Jarg Corp, co-founded by Baclawski and Belanger in 1998, is a Waltham-based company that has exclusive rights for use of the patent in association with Northeastern.
Belanger said they were alerted to the situation a little more than two years ago by a Boston area law firm familiar with the patented technology recognized some aspects of the technology in an online Google presentation. Belanger would not disclose the law firm name.
"We believe the complaint to be without merit based upon our initial investigation," said Google representative Jon Murchinson in an e-mail to The News. He declined to comment further.
Northeastern officials and Baclawski also declined to comment on the lawsuit.
While Belanger has no expectations in terms of a time frame for when the lawsuit will play out, Michael Attaya, an intellectual property attorney for the Boston-based law firm Cesari and McKenna, said cases filed in Marshall usually take about two to two-and-a-half years to get to court, which is about six months less than the waiting time for such lawsuits in other courts.
Attaya said a large amount of patent lawsuits are being filed in the Eastern District of Texas since one of the federal judges, Judge Ward, showed an interest in patent litigation a few years ago. During this time, Attaya said Ward single-handedly wrote procedural rules to apply to all patent infringement cases and this, coupled with the fact that at the time he had relatively few cases on his docket, promoted this district as quick and plaintiff-friendly.
"Northeastern probably thinks this is an appropriate and favorable forum for them, like lots of people who have brought patent cases there. They like that the time to trial is faster … and that [when judges] handle more and more of these cases, they tend to get very familiar…with this area of law," Attaya said.
Attaya said that of the patent infringement cases that have gone to trial in Marshall in the past, over 50 percent have won.
However, Attaya estimated that more than 80 percent of all of these types of cases settle either before they go to trial or before a verdict is made.
Attaya said the length of the trial depends on the complexity of the case. The shortest are probably a week or two and some of the longer ones have been more like four weeks, he said.
If a settlement is made, Belanger said Jarg and Northeastern will split it 50-50 according to their licensing agreement.
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