Gannett headed to court

The Chicago intellectual property law firm Cook Alex, Ltd. has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Gannett Co., Inc. and the Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc., publishers of USA Today, on behalf of client Electronic Imaging Systems of America, Inc. (eISA). The suit involves a patent eISA holds on technology that helps newspapers and other sellers of advertising generate invoices that link electronic copies of client ads that have run. The complaint also names Shoom, Inc., an invoicing services provider, as a defendant. Publishers typically include so-called “tear sheets” – copies of ads as published taken directly from the publication – as part of their invoices to advertising clients. Traditionally, this meant using tear sheets taken from hard copy back issues. The process is labor intensive, expensive and often results in bulky invoices. MORE... In an effort to assist the publishing industry, eISA developed a new billing system that allows publishers to provide links from line items in their bills to electronic copies of the tear sheets. EISA secured a U.S. patent on this technology (7,099,837). The term of the patent was effective August 29, 2006. eISA offers this patented technology in its AD/STAT System, which some publishers such as the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post use for some of their advertisement billing. On November 27, 2006, Shoom issued a press release announcing that it had contracted with Gannett to provide advertising invoicing services, including its eTearSheets and eInvoices products. The lawsuit in Chicago charges that Gannett and Shoom are jointly infringing the ‘837 patent in the process of using Shoom’s eTearSheets and eInvoices. “Since neither Shoom nor Gannett holds a license to use our client’s technology, we have filed suit to protect eISA’s investment in and rights to this revolutionary invention,” said Edward D. Manzo, a shareholder with Cook Alex and lead trial counsel to eISA. “eISA is prepared to serve the publishing industry with this technology, that not only dramatically shortens what used to be a labor-intensive process of scavenging printed pages for tear sheets but also greatly speeds up cash flow to publishers, through its own AD/STAT System and has not granted licenses to competitors or to publishers. We will continue to vigorously defend our client’s right to the exclusive use of the technology it invented.” The current eISA suit against Gannett and Shoom follows an unsuccessful attempt by Shoom to have a separate eISA patent for electronic tear sheet technology invalidated. That suit was dismissed last year by a federal court in California . The suit described above involves a different but related patent.