local.com received a large amount of media and stock market attention a few weeks ago for a new patent that was issued. this is new patent issed in 2007 applied for just a few years ago. it is hard to understand why all the excitement. one commentator even went so far as to say this was a "fresh patent", implying that its newness makes it more applicable....sort of like "fresh" new wine is better that that "old" stuff.
furthermore, patents derive some measure of credibility from prior art references. patents that are referenced by subsequent patents can generally infer that other inventions recognize the prior invention. geomas, a patent i am keenly interested in, for instance, is referenced 105 times, as Dow Jones notes in the article below.


By Riva Richmond
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Meanwhile, rival Geomas, a London-based startup, is trying to build a business
primarily on licensing its patented local-search technology, though it also aims
to launch its own search engine. Its patent covers a technology, dubbed GeoTag,
that organizes and accesses search information based on geography and that the
firm claims is broader than Local.com's.

Geomas declined to name companies who are licensing GeoTag, but lists on its
homepage 105 that have cited the patent as prior art, including AT&T Inc. (T),
Microsoft and Time Warner Inc.'s (TWX) AOL unit.

"GeoTag is a foundational technology," says Jason Galanis, Geomas' principal
financier and investor. "We can't identify another way to search (local)
information other than in the manner we've described in the patent."

In November, Geomas moved to enforce its patent by filing an infringement
lawsuit against directory-assistance company Idearc Media Corp., a spin-off of
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) that operates the Superpages.com Web site.
Idearc declined to discuss the suit, but court filings show it denies the
allegations and is fighting the suit on jurisdictional grounds.

"Sometimes you go after one of the players," says John Rabena, a patent
attorney at Sughrue Mion PLLC. "And if you're successful in a lawsuit, then
other companies - potential licensees - will sign up more easily."

-By Riva Richmond, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5670;