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Earth stands still for Google opponent
- Posted in: Patents
on 09th March 2007 Link to this page
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A technology firm’s patent dispute with Google over its Google Earth feature ended on 7 March with a victory for the search giant. The outcome marks the end of nearly three years of legal wrangling, which began in May 2004 when Skyline Software Systems filed a suit against Keyhole, a California-based digital mapping firm. Skyline alleged infringement of its software by Keyhole’s applications, including one called TerraExplorer, which produced 3D bird’s-eye views of real landscapes. Skyline’s 2002 patent, US 6,496,189, outlined a technique for ‘providing data blocks describing three-dimensional terrain to a renderer.’
Matters were complicated in October 2004 when Keyhole was bought by Google. The mapping firm was quickly enfolded into Google’s operations, and its technology formed the basis for Google Earth, launched in June 2005. A popular piece of software, the feature allows Google users to swoop over rendered versions of territories and environments from around the world, pieced together from satellite scans.
Once the virtual Earth was set in motion, Skyline’s lawsuit had to stretch to accommodate Keyhole’s powerful new owner. Legal deadlock ensued – but in April 2006, a Massachusetts federal court judge announced an expedited ‘discovery and trial’ schedule for the case, seeking to determine claim construction of Google’s methods in advance of a full hearing. At that stage, Skyline’s president Ronnie Yaron detected blood in the water, stating: ‘the court's expedited trial schedule and the issuance of the claim construction are a real victory for Skyline. Skyline is an innovator in this field of 3D mapping and has been trying to schedule a prompt trial where it believes the infringement issues are straightforward. Google can no longer delay the process.’
However, following Google’s victory, spokesman Ricardo Reyes said: ‘From the beginning, we felt confident that Google Earth's technology does not infringe Skyline's patent.’
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