LivingSocial Settles Patent-Infringement Lawsuit With Blue Calypso, Sees Hope for the Future

LivingSocial and Blue Calypso, a small marketing company, have reached a settlement in a patent-infringement lawsuit that was filed by the latter party almost exactly a year ago. The terms are being kept confidential.

Back on Aug. 27, 2012, Blue Calypso explained that it had filed a suit against LivingSocial for infringement on its U.S. patent Nos. 7,664,516 and 8,155,679.

Here’s the abstract for patent No. 7,664,516, which was filed on Dec. 23, 2005:

“Disclosed are a method and system for peer-to-peer advertising between mobile communication devices. A subsidy program is set up based on a profile of an advertiser having at least one advertising media. A qualified subscriber is identified for the advertiser based on a profile of a subscriber. One or more advertisers and subsidy programs for the qualified subscriber is selected. In addition, when a communication transmission is received from a source communication device, at least one advertising media is associated with the communication transmission and the communication transmission is transmitted from a source communication device to a destination communication device.”

The abstract for patent No. 8,155,679, filed on Nov. 18, 2009, is identical.

Blue Calypso is suing Groupon over the same two patents. The two companies are set to

In a recent interview with AllThingsD, LivingSocial CEO Tim O’Shaughnessy said the company, which has had its share of struggles lately, is set to have more product development in the next 6-9 months than it’s had in the last two years.

“If things shape up how we think they’ll shape up, I think that by end of year we will have permanently and fundamentally answered that [profitability] question,” he said.