Location-Based Search Was Patented In 1999

greenbird writes "Another patent fiasco has begun. Wired reports that a patent on location-based Internet searches was filed in 1996 and granted in 1999 (patent is here). A patent troll company name Geomas acquired the patent and has filed suit against Verizon in none other than Marshall, Texas. They claim this is the first in what will be a long line of lawsuits. Geomas has amassed a $20M war chest in venture capital to use for getting rich off of a clearly obvious idea."

Comments

Go Geomas!

[andyring]

As a Vonage subscriber and hating what Verizon is doing to them, I'm all for someone doing a goatse on Verizon.

They Forgot One!

[eldavojohn]

From the patent:

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said geographical search area is the world.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein said geographical search area is a continent.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein said geographical search area is a country.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein said geographical search area is a state.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein said geographical search area is a provence.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein said geographical search area is a territory.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein said geographical search area is a city.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein said geographical search area is a point of interest.

Quick! Patent me up:

15. The system of claim 1, wherein said geographical search area is ... the universe.

Laugh now, but thousands of years from now when you're looking for an all night Denny's around Omicron Percei 8, the system that you use will end up paying me patent royalties!

Re:Slashdot exercise: prove it was an "obvious ide

[Greyfox]

I'm pretty sure the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy would qualify as prior art. That it is fictional in no way keeps it from embodying those ideas.