IBM lawsuit accuses Priceline of patent infringements

A lawsuit has been filed against Priceline Group, accusing it of infringing four IBM patents in running its travel and dining websites.

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A lawsuit has been filed against Priceline Group, accusing it of infringing four IBM patents in running its travel and dining websites.

IBM took the action on Monday, asking the US District Court for the District of Delaware to bar Priceline from using the patents, to award IBM royalties and to order Priceline to pay IBM’s costs and attorney’s fees.

IBM also said that the infringement was willful, and asked for all damages to be trebled.

Reuters reported that IBM said it had approached Priceline about the alleged infringement.

“Despite IBM’s repeated demands, Priceline refuses to negotiate a licence. This lawsuit seeks to stop Priceline from continuing to use IBM’s intellectual property without authorisation,” IBM said in its complaint.

Two of the IBM patents are from the late 1990s, one tracks prior conversations with a user and another speeds up internet transmissions.

The third patent from 2006 is a method of showing internet advertising, the fourth from 2009 improves on a single sign-on.

IBM allege that Priceline also used the patented technology on its kayak.com and opentable.com websites.