Boca Raton, Florida Patent Holder Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against InfoUSA, Inc.
Florida: Boca Raton Patent Holder Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against InfoUSA, Inc.
Boca Raton patent holder, Perfect Web Technologies, Inc. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against infoUSA, Inc. of Omaha , NE in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida according to a press release I received today. The infringement lawsuit seeks damages and an injunction against further infringement.
The patent asserted in the lawsuit is U.S. Patent No. 6,631,400 entitled "METHOD FOR MANAGING BULK E-MAIL DISTRIBUTION" and protects key elements of processes used in the e-mail marketing and management industry.
A copy of the patent infringement complaint is available online.
The complete press release follows below:
INFOUSA SUED for Patent Infringement
Boca Raton, FL March 29, 2007 — Perfect Web Technologies, Inc. (Pink Sheets: PWBI) filed a patent infringement action against infoUSA, Inc. (NASDAQ:IUSA) of Omaha , NE in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The infringement lawsuit seeks damages and an injunction against further infringement.
The suit seeks to enforce Patent 6,631,400, issued by the US Patent Office to Thomas L. DiStefano, III, Chairman and CEO, on October 7th 2003. The patent entitled *"METHOD FOR MANAGING BULK E-MAIL DISTRIBUTION" *protects key elements of processes used in the e-mail marketing and management industry.
The suit brought by Perfect Web Technologies alleges intentional violation of the patent by infoUSA. According to public sources, infoUSA maintains databases of e-mail addresses and other customer data on approximately 210 million consumers and 14 million businesses. infoUSA transmits significant amounts of bulk e-mail via the Internet through its Donnelley division and
owned companies like YesMail, ePostDirect, @Once and Digital Connexxions.
According to Thomas L. DiStefano, III, Chairman and CEO of Perfect Web Technologies, "This litigation is a fundamental case of protecting the valuable intellectual property we have developed for the future of the e-mail marketing and management industry. With notice of our rights, infoUSA knowingly took and has continued to use our valuable inventions throughout a wide variety of their business operations and subsidiaries. In effect, they are trying to get away with using our inventions everyday to enrich themselves without appropriate acknowledgement or compensation. While we acknowledge that infoUSA has built a sizeable presence in the industry, it has done so unfairly by utilizing our patented technology without authorization. We are therefore asking the court system to enforce the patent on our inventions and remedy this blatant case of infringement." In their most recent SEC filings infoUSA reported over $486 million in gross revenue.