Augme Files Patent Suit Against Newly IPO-ed Millennial

• April 9, 2012

Following a similar patent infringement lawsuit again Velti just a month ago, Augme sued independent ad network Millennial Media last week. As reported by TechCrunch, the claims seem similar to those made in the past against Velti and other targets of Augme. The patents govern technologies governing when “content provided in a Web page, such as advertisements, music, video, and the like, is customized based on the end user’s computing environment, connectivity, bandwidth level, geographic location, gender, age, or other targeting criteria such as behavioral marketing data.”

In the court papers, the example Augme cites of targeted content and advertising sounds much like the broadest of standard targeting techniques. “By way of example, a Web page about Texas cooking may air commercials relevant to that topic, such as food items, antacids, and barbeques.” Augme cites Milllennial’ s MYDAS technology engine to demonstrate the infringement, claiming that the targeting tech’s ability to customize ads based on the mobile user’s device and other targeting criteria infringes on the patent. The suit cites three such patents used.

Augme is suing Millennial only a week after the ad network issued its initial public offering to go public.