More Patent Woes for CMS Vendors
We've been watching how firms like Interwoven and Docucomp have flexed their patent muscles recently. One way to get new revenue during our current recession, we guess, was to have had the foresight to file very broad patents back in 1995. Now there's another claimant to add to the list: 24/7 Media. The company is sending legal notices to select vendors that argue that 24/7 has two patents around targeted content delivery. The letters suggest none too plainly that some sort of licensing fee is therefore in order. On quick inspection, we're not so sure they really apply to the kind of web-based personalization features you find in CMS packages. Read them and decide for yourself...
The 1st Patent seems broadcast oriented The 2nd one looks like a banner ad system