DoubleClick is recognised as the leader in the on-line advertising market. The company has used an enabling technology for its DART service which enables it to target banner ads to users based on their usage patterns. This enabling technology is alleged to be covered by 24/7’s patent, which is called “On-line Interactive System and Method for Providing Content and Advertising Information to a Targeted Set of Viewers.”
This is a counter-claim by 24/7, following DoubleClick’s own patent infringement claim last year against 24/7’s subsidiary, Sabella, over patents which covered the enabling technology.
Unlike the position in the UK, patents for software and business methods are permitted and not uncommon in the US. The US Patent and Trademark Office has faced much criticism over some of its recent decisions to give monopoly rights to companies for seemingly obvious innovations. One of the best publicised cases was that of the one-click technology patent which gave the retail giant Amazon.com the power to exclude competitors from using its method of on-line shopping, which critics say was both obvious and unoriginal.