NeoMedia wins the patent battle for the indirect code

We published a video interview with Iain McCready, CEO of NeoMedia, about this yesterday, but it really merits a closer look. NeoMedia has announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has ruled in favor of NeoMedia’s patent dispute. Without getting too technical, the patent is for certain aspects of using id codes found on ordinary “articles of commerce” to access remote computers on a network - or “mobile barcoding” to you and me.

NeoMedia will be licensing the technology to others, in order to drive innovation and interoperability in mobile barcode applications and services for the advertising industry.

From the release:

“This is excellent news for NeoMedia as it allows us to move forward with our vision to create strong partnerships and synergies to align all companies for the next growth phase,” said Iain McCready, chief executive officer of NeoMedia Technologies, Inc. “We are committed to building a fully involved and collaborative ecosystem of agencies, mobile operators, and vendors who recognize the potential of mobile barcode advertising.”

“We are pleased that this patent has withstood the intense scrutiny of the PTO’s re-examination process, in which numerous additional prior art references were considered in detail by the PTO Examiners before confirming all ninety-five claims as being patentable”, said Tony Barkume of Barkume & Associates, P.C., patent counsel for NeoMedia. “The approval indicated by the PTO in its Notice of Intent to Issue a Re-examination Certificate has confirmed the strength and validity of the ‘048 patent in the face of such a heightened challenge.”

What we think?

In short: we like it. A lot. Bena will be writing a more in-depth “what we think” for this when we have more time post-WMC!