SEATTLE PI — Feb 2 — Yahoo has been accused in a lawsuit of infringing a U.S. patent on a way to match users’ personality profiles. Spark Network Services (not Spark Networks) also named Match.com and eHarmony.com as defendants in the suit, filed Tuesday in federal court in Chicago. The complaint asks for damages based on the companies’ profits from the sites and the duration of infringement. FULL POST @ SEATTLE POST INTELLIGENCER
Mark Brooks: Spark Network Services was started in 1994 and supplied it’s radio partners with the (IVR) Voice Personals platform, MatchLink through 800 and 900 numbers. They have nothing to do with Spark Networks. I was surprised Spark went with that name given the branding proximity with Spark Networks .
Here’s some info on the patent…
U.S. Patent 6,272,467
Inventors: Durand; Pierre E. (Chicago, IL), Low; Michael D. (Evanston, IL), Stoller; Melissa K. (Kenilworth, IL)
Assignee: Spark Network Services, Inc. (Evanston, IL)
Filed: January 16, 1997
This patent relates to an automated method for identifying compatible matches where participants are identified by a profile of traits and a set of criteria desired in at match. The invention utilizes two-way matching of selected criteria, which measures not only how compatible the potential match is with the desired traits of the user, but also how well the user fits the potential match’s idea of the perfect match. One embodiment of the invention further refines the matching process by asking the user to identify and rank which criteria the user considers to be the most important in a match and then weighing those criteria more heavily in the matching process. LINK TO PATENT