Here is the full press release:
Landmark Internet Commerce Case Moves Forward As New York Judge Sets Key Pre-Trial Dates; E-Data Says One Defendant Settled Before Hearing
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 1996--In the early evening of Friday, June 21, in a crowded courtroom in Foley Square in New York, Judge Barbara Jones of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York said she would issue an order setting two key pre-trial dates in the patent infringement suit brought by E-data Corporation of Secaucus, N.J. (OTC Bulletin Board:GIFT) against fourteen companies engaged in electronic commerce applications involving the Internet and CD-ROM.
There were so many defendants, including such giants as Broderbund, Compuserve, McGraw-Hill, Waldenbooks and Ziff, that their lawyers spilled over from counsel tables to public benches and filled the jury box at the invitation of Judge Jones.
E-data, then known as Interactive Gift Express, filed its NY case on Aug. 24, 1995 alleging that the defendants were infringing on its US Patent No. 4,528,643 entitled "System for Reproducing Information in Material Objects at A Point of Sale Location." E-data has similar suits pending in federal court in CT against an additional nineteen companies.
The E-data suits are considered landmarks in the emerging law of electronic commerce and are followed with intense interest by the rapidly growing digital distribution industry. The E-data patent relates to most on-demand and pay-as-you-go electronic transactions involving the purchase of products composed of digital data, including
software, information, fonts, images, music and video.
Before the court hearing on June 21, privately held Kidsoft Inc. settled with E-data and was released as a defendant in the NY suit.
Judge Jones said she will order Aug. 21, 1996 as the date by which E-data is to present its detailed infringement analysis and specific patent claims to each defendant, and Sept. 6 as the next conference date for all parties who have not settled with E-data by that time.
E-data patent counsel David Fink, Esq., who appeared in court alone to face twenty-two lawyers for the defendants, said he was satisfied that the E-data suit was now taken seriously by the respondents remaining in the case. "Judge Jones is moving the case along expeditiously toward E-data's day in court," he said.
E-data president Arnold L. Freilich observed that IBM, Adobe and VocalTec among others had already taken licenses and that license negotiations are in progress with many companies not named in the NY lawsuit. "We hope that the remaining defendants realize that it will make sense for them, too, to talk to us about settlement," he stated.
CONTACT: E-data Corporation
Arnold L. Freilich, President
201/866-8456 / alfco@planet.net
or
Warren J. Cavior
The Cavior Organization
212/687-6070 / caviorg@aol.com
or
Anthony DiMaio
Anthem Communications
212/943-8998 / anthcomm@aol.com |
