CoolSavings.com Inc., Chicago, which provides coupons and discounts on the Internet, has reached an agreement to end a patent infringement lawsuit brought against a competitor, CouponSurfer.com.
Specific terms are confidential, but the settlement declares the patent–for distributing printed and electronic coupons through the Internet–to be valid while granting CouponSurfer a license for its use. The judgment also ends all claims against CouponSurfer.
The legal action was one of several suits CoolSavings filed last year in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago for infringement of its patent, “Interactive Marketing Network and Process Using Electronic Certificates.” Other companies named in various suits include Catalina Marketing, E-centives, H.O.T! Coupons Inc. and planet U.
CoolSavings reached a similar settlement in March with Xadvantage Corp., a Los Altos, CA outfit that runs StoreCoupon.com.
“Like it or not, e-commerce patents are now a reality in how businesses compete on the ‘Net,” CouponSurfer CEO Adam Schwartz said in a statement. “Online couponing is moving much too quickly to waste time and resources on patent litigation. We’d rather concentrate on the fastest growing market segment on the Internet.”
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