Reaching a pivotal milestone in its four-year journey as court-appointed receiver for pioneering digital data and advertising company AudienceScience Inc., Seattle-based Revitalization Partners has filed suit against Google LLC and YouTube LLC for infringing on a trio of patents held by the receivership and the former company’s estate.
Revitalization Partners, on behalf of AudienceScience, alleges that both Google and YouTube infringe upon the inventions of AudienceScience by selecting and designating which advertising messages are included when a user requests a web page. The intellectual property litigation is believed to be the first ever initiated by a state receiver. Revitalization Partners initially discovered the patents after AudienceScience ceased day-to-day operations in 2017.
AudienceScience invented and patented many of the foundational technologies used across the digital advertising industry today. Among its innovations: the industry’s first behavioral targeting product, enabling publishers throughout the world to serve more relevant advertising based on both user history and page context. This innovation began the empowerment of advertisers to buy highly targeted digital media.
Revitalization Partners co-founder and principal Al Davis said his firm discovered some 32 AudienceScience patents after being appointed by the court to manage the receivership process. Working with Pat Scanlon, director of RP’s digital business practice, the firm began developing a strategy to monetize the value of those proprietary technologies in order to satisfy creditor obligations. The suit against Google and YouTube represents the first of those legal actions.
Mr. Davis said, “As we did our due diligence, we quickly recognized how the patents were being infringed upon by two of the largest and most influential companies in the online world. Now that we’ve received the necessary approvals from the Washington State receivership court in order to pursue litigation, we are in position to execute and potentially recover a significant amount of value for creditors using these and other patents.”
Revitalization Partners engaged noted Silicon Valley IP patent litigation lead counsel Robert Kramer of the Feinberg Day Kramer Alberti Lim Tonkovich & Belloli LLP firm to represent the company in the case against Google and YouTube, along with local counsel The Dacus Firm in Tyler, Texas.