• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, August 2, 2011

Before their business relationship blew up in a flurry of accusations and remonstrations that ended up in court in June, WPP's Kantar and research firm TRA had serious talks about merging their businesses, according to documents filed with a New York court.

The case is continuing, and last week Judge Shira Scheindlin, who is overseeing it, ordered the litigants to try to settle their differences through mediation before proceeding to trial.

According to the papers, filed in New York's Southern District Court, talks about a possible acquisition by Kantar of TRA -- which offers research that combines TV viewing and consumer purchase patterns -- continued through January of this year. But they concluded without a deal -- a result that TRA claims soured the relationship.

In a filing last month, TRA indicated that after talks broke off, WPP urged one potential TRA backer not to invest. That potential investor subsequently indicated to TRA partners that WPP "was attempting to starve TRA so that WPP/Kantar could buy TRA on the cheap."

It was just a short time after the acquisition talks broke off, in early March, that Kantar launched a competing service to TRA called RapidView that also combines viewing and purchase data.

It was Kantar who fired the first salvo in court two months ago, anticipating TRA's patent infringement allegations. It asked the court to declare that its service did not violate TRA patents.

Going further, WPP charged that TRA had breached its contract with Kantar by excluding its designated representative on the board of directors, Sheila Spence, from at least one board meeting.

WPP, through its investment arm Cavendish, and its research unit Kantar, was one of the earliest investors in TRA back in 2007. In return for investing, it received the right to have board representation.

Last month, TRA fired back, alleging that Kantar infringed on TRA's patented technology to develop RapidView, which competes directly with TRAnalytics. The TRA service was launched a few years ago.

TRA requested that the court stop Kantar from offering its RapidView offering, at least until the case is decided. It argued that as part of a $15 billion global holding company, Kantar has the clout and existing client base to rapidly deploy the new offering -- doing irreparable harm to TRA, a small start-up that is constantly scrounging for funds.

In the time it takes to conduct a lengthy trial, it added, Kantar could end up unfairly dominating the market with its service.