IBM Sues Groupon Over Business Model

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The oddball lawsuit of the day is brought to you by IBM and Groupon. A Groupon deal on Lawyers would be good right about now. ;)

Just as Groupon was starting to win back investors, it’s facing another potential crisis. IBM is suing the daily deals website, alleging it infringed on IBM patents. In a complaint filed at the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, IBM says it warned Groupon officials that the company’s business model was being built on patented technology, but those warnings went unheeded.
 
So... how long exactly has groupon been around?

And IBM is now just suing them for a rubber stamped patent that should never have been granted in the first place?

Since when has group buying / quantity discounts been patentable?

IBM better start suing every business that offers quantity discounts then.

Sounds to me like IBM is grasping at straws to try and grab some money.
 
Article is missing a lot a lot of details; like what the actual technology is, same with Priceline. Don't think it's group / mass deals. There's something else that BigBlue is upset about.
 
I'm curious what exactly their "business model" is infringing on? I didn't even think something like that could be patented.
 
this is what I gathered from the priceline vs IBM

"The patents relate to a system which presents applications and advertising in an interactive platform, sign-on tools and methods for storing user information from previous browsing behaviour."

so...still sounds like they should be suing the crap out just about anything on the web.

links to patent details here
IBM sues Priceline Group for alleged patent infringement
 
Bigbacon said:
this is what I gathered from the priceline vs IBM

"The patents relate to a system which presents applications and advertising in an interactive platform, sign-on tools and methods for storing user information from previous browsing behaviour."

so...still sounds like they should be suing the crap out just about anything on the web.

links to patent details here
IBM sues Priceline Group for alleged patent infringement
Click to expand...

It does sound like they should be suing just about every website, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple..... dang, that's a pretty broad, and deep, patent claim.
 
<rage moment>
OMG WTF!? A patent on a business model? Motherfucking shit is beyond broken!
</rage>
 
Bigbacon said:
this is what I gathered from the priceline vs IBM

"The patents relate to a system which presents applications and advertising in an interactive platform, sign-on tools and methods for storing user information from previous browsing behaviour."

so...still sounds like they should be suing the crap out just about anything on the web.

links to patent details here
IBM sues Priceline Group for alleged patent infringement
Click to expand...

So they should probably try to sue Newegg based on that right.... (y)
 
That article had so much left out of it, it didn't even make sense. Even reading britjh22's link to the patent details is pretty vague. I read the patent documents some which were filed in 1998! Which vaguely describe advertising models but the wording is so vague it's on the ridiculous side to the point where it's practically describing so many different things that could be based on the same wording. I just don't know whether to laugh or cry.
 
somecallmeTim said:
It does sound like they should be suing just about every website, including Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple..... dang, that's a pretty broad, and deep, patent claim.
Click to expand...
i bet they want to set a president then do after the bigger fish.
 
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