Jumptap Mulling Mobile Ad Patent Licensing Program

by Laurie Sullivan, Mar 11, 2010, 11:18 PM

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Mobile ad network Jumptap has been awarded a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office relating to an automated bid management system that dynamically manages bids and serves up ads in mobile content.

Generally, a bid management system adjusts bids based on the performance of ads, such as click-throughs and conversions. In this case, the bids adjust the ads served up on mobile phones in real time.

The patent -- No. 7,676,394 -- represents the fifth in a series that Jumptap has submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The company has another 70 patents in the queue waiting for approval. As more patents are approved and granted, it could prompt the mobile ad network to begin heavily licensing the technology as a service.

"We have not yet initiated a licensing program related to our patents, but in the future anything is possible," says Jorey Ramer, Jumptap founder and vice president of corporate development. "We have not made an announcement relating to the licensing of our technology, but we have unique technologies that we license."

Ramer, named inventor on the recently granted patent, says advertising remains Jumptap's primary business, where publishers and application developers support the ad network. The companies can either work with Jumptap directly or through its self-service platform interface to help serve up targeted ads.

Maybe so, but patents and intellectual property licensing have become a huge business in the United States represented by companies like IBM, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and a host of others. Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent settled a dispute in 2008 that covered six lawsuits. A federal jury in San Diego in one case awarded Alcatel $1.52 billion, the largest patent verdict ever, over digital music technology, according to The New York Times.

Morgan Stanley and Gartner recently predicted that more users will access the Internet via mobile devices than desktop PCs within three to five years, Ramer says. Advertisers increasingly demand more sophisticated capabilities from mobile advertising solutions. Jumptap's patent portfolio reflects its early move into research and development.

"When consumers go mobile, advertisers have no choice but to follow them," Ramer says. "If you look at the broader trends, traditional advertising will shift to mobile because that's where consumers are going. By the end of this year we will have a fantastic portfolio of patents."

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