Software vendor may cash in on contact-center patents
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SAN FRANCISCO - CosmoCom Inc., a software vendor that holds a pair of U.S. patents on IP (Internet Protocol) contact center technology, is now considering moves to defend those patents, company officials said Monday.
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Hand-held devices help settle disputes. (Look it up!)
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These communications equipment makers can signal they're turning products into cash.
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A software company and its parent are claiming they hold patent rights to widely used Internet song-swapping technology, and they are demanding that several file-sharing networks obtain licenses in order to continue operating.
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With its recent acquisition, the software maker may have found something its customers are looking for.
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It's not business as usual: the two partners could be headed to court over alleged patent infringements and, depending on the outcome of their dispute, may choose to go their separate ways.
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Sectors of the Internet world are still buzzing over the release of a Microsoft patent application that appears to claim rights to the underlying method proposed by companies to better determine
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The yearlong project will allow experts in computer technology to send technical references regarding the claims of a patent application before an examiner reviews it.
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One challenge will be to link the call center with back-office databases of CRM applications so that agents can see, for example, the identity of the caller and the history of their account.
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Deal masks interest in controversial digital distribution patents?
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Blog: A yearlong pilot project called Peer to Patent aims to help patent examiners by compiling public comments about computer- and software-related applications submitted by companies like Red Hat, Intel and IBM.
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The tech distributor gives investors a nice present.
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The Story: Look in the mirror, Mr. or Ms. IT buyer. You?ve got more muscle than ever ? and you did it without steroids.[ Slideshow: 2007's top underreported tech stories ]                                                    Despite the wave of consolidation sweeping the industry, buyers have actually gained more leverage than ever when it comes to making deals with their vendors, notes a PricewaterhouseCoopers analysis. ?Software buyers need to realize that the pendulum is beginning to swing in their favor and that there are an increasing number of alternatives in today?s software market,? concurs Gartner analyst William Snyder (no relation to this writer).There are a lot of reasons for the swing, but one certainly stands out: The shift to SaaS (software as a service). The poster child for this phenomenon is Salesforce.com. "Both its development and delivery models are having a disruptive effect on the entire CRM market,? notes Forrester Research analyst Bill Band. But it?s not just Salesforce: By 2011, Snyder says, fully 25 percent of all new business software will be delivered as a service as Salesforce and other vendors push upstream from the small-business market. Already, SaaS providers make up the majority of sales for several segments of human resources applications, and is well-established for supply-chain management.[ InfoClipzflash video primer: Software as a Service ]SaaS is just the first wave of services that are pushing pricing power over to buyers: The more recent move to Web services and the beginnings of SOA (service-oriented architecture) deployment are encouraging the use of modular software, which in turn cuts development costs, makes it harder for vendors to sell expensive suites, and lessens the need for expensive consulting services.And yet another factor is upping buyer?s power, notes Gartner?s Snyder: the emergence of third-party support options that are reducing software?s TCO (total cost of ownership). ?Maintenance services have been a quasi-monopoly for software vendors,? he said. ?For many years, only the software vendor had rights to the source code of the critical components of the system. This made it impossible to go to an open, competitive market to obtain upgrades, services and support, which in turn made it impossible to negotiate maintenance fees.?Interestingly another software trend ? the growth of virtualization ? is beginning to affect pricing for hardware, particularly servers. A report by Infiniti Research suggests that server shipments will start declining in 2008: ?The server market of tomorrow will be a value game and not a volume game.? And that means better pricing for hardware, too.Don?t let your head swell too much, but Gartner vice president Mark McDonald credits ?savvy CIOs? for containing costs that were once out of control. ?They?re saying, ?I want you to implement in a way that gives me the advantage over my competition? ? and they?re not accepting the traditional vendor model, which favors homogeneity and the economics of scale.?The Bottom Line: Chances are that you?re looking at SaaS, Web services, SOA, virtualization, open source, and other technology-delivery methods for a variety of specific reasons, without realizing the cumulative effect is to give you more pricing power. Now that you?ve got the power, use it.Complete list of 2007 underreported tech stories: 1.? Java is becoming the new Cobol 2.? Sun Microsystems is back in the game 3.? Hackers take aim at Mac OS X 4.? There are some threats you can worry less about 5.? Companies may have found a way around H-1B visa limits 6.? Open source?s new commercial strategy 7.? End-to-end Ethernet finally arrives 8.? Blade servers arrive for the masses 9.? BI is dead; long live BI 10. Balance of power shifts to software buyers
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(InfoWorld) - A Georgia technology vendor said Wednesday it is looking to collect money from three patents on targeted online advertising either by selling the patents or by collecting licensing fees from dozens of online advertising firms. Concurrent Computer, which sells Linux-based software to government and enterprise customers, obtained the three patents as part of its acquisition of Everstream Holdings in October 2005, said Kirk Somers, the company's executive vice president. Concurrent has begun sending letters to more than 50 companies, including Microsoft and Google, suggesting they may be using the patented technology without a license, Somers said. The patents cover virtually all methods of targeted advertising on the Internet, the company said. Concurrent's primary goal is to sell the three patents to another company interested in targeted online advertising, Somers said. The company has hired IPinvestments Group, an intellectual property business advisory firm, to help it sell the patents, and its goal would be to sell the patents by the end of the year. The company's aim is to "ensure the continued growth of this market while maximizing the value of our intellectual property," Concurrent President and CEO Gary Trimm said in a statement. But Concurrent is also considering keeping the patents and attempting to collect licensing fees, possibly through patent infringement lawsuits, Somers said. "We haven't ruled out the hammer technique completely," he said. "The patents are key to [several companies'] strategies." Right now, Concurrent would prefer to avoid lawsuits, Somers said. The company wants to work out agreements where "we all can benefit," he added. The patents relate to systems and methods of bundling stored data, such as music, video, and television content, with stored advertisements and delivering them to users based on user requests or profiles. The portfolio of related patents includes three U.S. patents, three Canadian patents, and U.S. and foreign patent applications. The U.S. patents included in the portfolio are No. 5,931,901, related to programmed music on demand from the Internet; No. 6,038,591, also related to programmed music packaged with advertisements; and No. 6,161,142, for a method and system for using a communication network to supply targeted streaming advertising in interactive media. The first patent was filed in March 1997, and the other two are continuations of the first patent, Concurrent said. Concurrent expects that some companies may challenge the patents, especially in the case of infringement lawsuits, Somers said. The company has taken the last year and a half to investigate the patents, and it believes they are valid, he said. "We didn't find any problems with them," he added. A Google representative wasn't immediately available to comment on the patents. Asked about the value of the patents, Somers declined to get more specific than to say it was significant. "I don't want to unrealistically set expectations at the high or low side," he said. Concurrent's patent claims come two weeks after Microsoft officials complained that Linux and other open-source projectsÂ infringe on 235 of its patents. Concurrent's claims are "completely independent" of the Microsoft claims against Linux, Somers said. "We've been working on this a long time," he added.
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Google Inc. last week filed a patent for technology that would allow users to make payments using text messages or SMS.
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There's money to be made in mediating others' software rivalries.
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Legal dispute over storage patent is about to get going in earnest, part of a wider skirmish over security software turf.