Software company Droplets first filed the suit in 2011, alleging that Yahoo! infringed upon its patent, United States Patent No. 6,687,745, "System and method for delivering a graphical user interface of remote applications over a thin bandwidth connection." Also named in the suit were Google, Amazon, Apple, YouTube, and Facebook and United States Patent No. 7,502,838, "System and method for delivering remotely stored applications and information." While the other companies chose to pursue licensing agreements with the company, Yahoo! chose instead to pursue legal action.

Last month, a California federal jury found that although Yahoo!'s other products did not infringe Patent No. 6,687,745, the company's Search Suggest feature did. The company was ordered by a federal judge to pay $15 million to Droplets. For its part, the software company stated that the verdict affirms that it "invented technology that changed the Internet."

"We've already seen a great deal of movement on the patent front in 2022," says Cane. "First was the ruling by the United States International Trade Commission that Google infringed upon multiple patents held by speaker manufacturer Sonos, then the patent infringement suit Google won around Google Ads, now there's the case with Yahoo! and Droplets. And these are only scratching the surface."

"At first glance, this may appear to have relatively little to do with search," she continues. "Google has paid a license to Droplets for some time, and Yahoo!'s share of the market is small by comparison. I believe, however, that the outcome of this suit and the push it signifies in the wider market could have significant implications."

Cane points to the outcome of the case between Google and Foundem, in which the search engine giant was accused of anticompetitive practices. Google lost an appeal in November 2021, which ultimately resulted in it being fined €2.4 billion ($2.58 billion USD). Publications such as Reuters have suggested that such rulings could considerably strengthen the European Union's current push to regulate big tech.

"The EU has long been a global leader in terms of laws and regulations around technology," explains Cane. "Between the potential for new regulations there and ongoing litigation here, we may be looking at a very different search landscape in the near future."

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Source: PRWeb
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