IBM Files Patent Infringement Lawsuit Against Priceline

(RTTNews) - International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) Tuesday said it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Priceline Group Inc. (PCLN) for damages for past infringement and for a reasonable royalty going forward.

The lawsuit comes after more than three years of attempts by IBM to resolve its concerns with Priceline over infringement of IBM's patents, the company said.

IBM has filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Delaware against Priceline Group and subsidiaries that own and operate Priceline.com, Opentable.com and Kayak.com for infringement of IBM intellectual property. In addition to past damages, IBM will ask the court to impose a royalty for the continued use of its patented technology or, alternatively, for an injunction.

"We have filed this lawsuit against Priceline for a very simple reason -- IBM's patents are being knowingly and unfairly exploited," said Dr. William LaFontaine, general manager of Intellectual Property, IBM. "Our preference is to engage in good faith negotiations and agree to a fair patent license, but when another company willfully uses our intellectual property, without permission through a license, we have no option but to protect and vigorously defend it through every means available."

IBM said that Priceline has willfully infringed, and continues to infringe, four key IBM patents.