© 2013 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
Senior Writer for The Texas Lawbook
A North Texas federal judge has tossed a patent infringement lawsuit against Southlake-based Travelocity in which the plaintiff sought $20 million in damages.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled this week in a 21-page decision that the online travel agency did not violate a patent owned by ICON Internet Competence Network B.V., a company based in The Netherlands.
However, Judge O’Connor did not declare that ICON’s patent, entitled “System for Generating Graphics in Response to a Database Search,” was invalid.
“The key to our case is that Travelocity’s website doesn’t display information the way the plaintiff’s patent describes, which made it a good candidate for summary judgment,” says Tom Melsheimer, a partner at Fish & Richardson, which represented Travelocity in the case.
“About 30 to 40 percent of patent cases filed are related to website interaction or access and the demands of those patent holders in most lawsuits are relatively small and settle for a few hundred thousand dollars,” says Melsheimer. “These are look and feel kind of patents, meaning they patent a certain look on the website.”
Melsheimer, who handled the case along with fellow Fish partner Neil McNabnay, says the case, which was filed in 2011, was set for trial in March. The plaintiff’s were represented by the Houston law firm Provost Umphrey.
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