#Patent Owner With Ties To #IntellectualVentures Sues 100+ #Media Companies

Although this news is fairly old at this point, the Intellectual Ventures connection to Mission Abstract Data’s lawsuit against 116 media companies seems to have gone relatively unreported until last week. That’s when Tom Ewing (who runs an IP consulting firm) left a comment on Joff Wild’s article about NPR’s unflattering portrial of the IP world and IV in particular. Specifically, Tom mentioned that “[a]n IV-connected outfit called Mission Abstract Data LLC sued 116 radio stations in March for patent infringement. One could imagine that IV may have long-term plans for making itself heard in the media.”

Mission Abstract’s patents have a quite a history, including being the subject of a license agreement between Concert Technology Corporation and IM Networks (formerly Sonicbox), despite neither company having an apparent connection to the patents. Concert recently announced its offering of covenants not to sue in ICAP’s upcoming auction. Hopefully, a copy of the license agreement requested from the USPTO will shed some more light on this transaction.