It’s June, which means it’s time to catch up on who’s suing, settling and making money off of online dating companies.
First up, we have the expert witness resume for Matchmaker.com founder Patrick Michael O’Leary. Patrick now owns ExpertWitness.com, part of a $7 billion industry.
My former company, MatchMaker.com in 1990 addressed just about every area of the Internet Community and Social Networking / Media space. Today I have the Intellectual property of the 1990 version of MatchMaker.com installed and running for the purposes of invalidating Intellectual Property Patent Claims. This Prior Art will invalidate just about any Internet Social Networking / Community / Dating Patent Claim.
This is the most comprehensive description of a dating company that I’ve come across. Not only does he make money off of suing people, he can defend his ancient online dating IP. I bet the guy could put 1/2 of the online dating industry out of business if he tried. The list of dating industry lawsuits at the end of the document is news to me. Great reading for anyone interested in the early days of online dating.
In other legal news, Humor Rainbow, parent company of OKCupid, has struck a deal with Data Match Enterprises. Data Match has sued the company, along with eHarmony, Match, Friend Finder, Date and Singlesnet, in regards to infringement of a patent that covers a database management system.
More proof that the US Patent Office is royally screwed up. I’m all for protecting ideas with merit, but generic, obvious stuff? Lot’s of people make their living defending patents. I have a client with a patent of interest. They don’t like it when I remind them that there is so much obvious prior art out there, better to focus where the real money is, things like creative credit card re-billing, click fraud or 419 scams.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
You’ve completely misread Patrick’s CV on expertwitness. He is listed there as an EXPERT WITNESS (the clue is in the domain name) and according to that page he acted for the DEFENDANTS in the Data Match Enterprises vs eHarmony et al case, NOT the plaintiff. So you’ve really got the whole thing back to front.
The wording in the document was awkward and I misread it, thanks for the heads-up.
Sigh. I’m still waiting for someone to claim “toast” as their IP. Shouldn’t be long now.
Its interesting how the American online dating giants are all looking for the best matchmaking capabilities and spending untold $$ on develpoment when all singles want is a dating site that is simple and effective. Dating sites will win more business if they focus on better customer service, fraud protection and a decent variety of other members to select from. Are the majority of singles on dating sites really interested in whether a site has the capability to match up 2 people that like playing marbles? I think not. Most people enjoy checking out the talent and making their own choices rather than relying on a computer to match them up.
\looking for the best matchmaking capabilities and spending untold $$ on develpoment\ You’re kidding, right?
I still get Matts point even though he may have slightly overestimated the development factor. Some of the dating websites put too much focus on fancy matching features. A photo and brief introduction will do me anyday.