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To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (44544)	9/17/2008 11:37:11 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 57684

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Charles River Ventures Invest in RPX Corporation New Patent Acquisition Service Reduces Patent Assertion and Litigation Costs San Francisco, CA - September 17, 2008 - RPX Corporation, a new patent acquisition services company, today announced that Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Buyer (KPCB) and Charles River Ventures (CRV) have invested in the company. Terms were not disclosed. RPX’s service will be announced in October 2008. “RPX helps technology and e-commerce leaders protect themselves from intellectual property litigation so they can focus on patent development rather than patent defense,” said John Doerr, partner at KPCB. More than 1,500 patent infringement lawsuits were filed in the United States in the first half of 2008 - many with multiple defendants. Average estimated litigation costs are approximately $4.5 million, according to a 2005 American Intellectual Property Law Association survey. These lawsuits cost operating companies billions of dollars annually. Total costs to companies are far higher when factoring in costs of non-litigation assertions and settlements. "As an early investor in the patent commerce market, we are impressed with RPX’s management team, how their business model complements other models in the market, and their opportunity to address the patent assertion and litigation problems for major companies," said Izhar Armony a general partner at CRV. RPX co-CEO John Amster said, “Patent assertion and litigation costs U.S. businesses billions of dollars every year. Our goal was to create an affordable service model that reduces the threat of assertion and litigation and provides efficient patent protection to subscribing companies.” About Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Since its founding in 1972, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has backed entrepreneurs in over 500 ventures, including AOL, Amazon.com, Citrix, Compaq Computer, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Genomic Health, Google, Intuit, Juniper Networks, Netscape, Lotus, Sun Microsystems, Symantec, Verisign and Xilinx. KPCB portfolio companies employ more than 250,000 people. More than 150 of the firm's portfolio companies have gone public. Many other ventures have achieved success through mergers and acquisitions. The firm has offices in Menlo Park, California; Beijing, China and Shanghai, China. For more information, visit kpcb.com. About Charles River Ventures Founded in 1970, Charles River Ventures is one of the nation’s oldest and most successful early-stage venture capital firms with approximately $2.1 billion under management. CRV is dedicated to helping exceptional entrepreneurs turn their ideas into the next category leaders in high growth technology and media sectors. Over the past 10 years, CRV funds have been ranked among the industry’s top performers. CRV has offices in Boston, MA and Menlo Park, CA. For more information, visit crv.com. About RPX Corporation RPX Corporation is a patent acquisition services company for technology and e-commerce company’s Intellectual Property and Litigation Counsels and CFOs who want to reduce their patent assertion and litigation costs and risks. Funded by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Charles Rivers Ventures, the company has acquired over $30 million in patent rights to date and is on track to acquire $100 million in its first year. The company was founded by patent industry professionals with over $2 billion in patent transactions in their careers. RPX will not enforce the patents that it purchases. RPX headquarters is in San Francisco, CA. rpxcorp.com

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (44544)	9/17/2008 11:39:05 AM
From: fedhead	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 57684

I think if the HP layoffs are a prelude of things to come in Silicon Valley, those prices are coming down in a hurry. Goldman Sachs is down 30 today. Its bieng eviscerated. Anindo

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (44544)	9/17/2008 11:49:03 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 57684

Online Travel Engine UpTake Raises $10 Million ______________________________________________________________ September 17th, 2008 -- Travel search and discovery engine UpTake (www.uptake.com) today announced it has raised more than $10 million in new funding, including a Series B round of investment led by Trinity Ventures and Shasta Ventures, and additional backing from other sources. The new funding builds on the company’s Series A round of $4 million from Shasta Ventures announced in December 2007, when UpTake opened the site to its first private beta users. Founded by the former GM of Yahoo! Travel Yen Lee, UpTake went into public beta in May with the travel industry’s most comprehensive database for hotels and attractions. UpTake’s vacation search helps travelers make better decisions by providing more than 20 million online reviews and opinions from other travelers across the web, and delivering results that match user preferences. The site includes content from thousands of trusted web sites like TripAdvisor, Expedia, Fodors, goCityKids, Virtual Tourist, and Yahoo! Travel. UpTake will use the new funding to achieve three main objectives for the company and its product. First, it will expand search beyond UpTake Hotels into new categories including: UpTake Lodging, UpTake Things to Do, UpTake Restaurants and UpTake Beaches. Second, UpTake will invest in its search technology to improve travel recommendations based on its analysis and filtering of collective intelligence. Lastly, it will pursue opportunities to grow the company through acquisitions. “We looked at dozens of investment opportunities in the online travel industry for several years before deciding to invest in UpTake,” said Patricia Nakache, general partner, Trinity Ventures. “UpTake has a distinct approach that addresses a big search and discovery gap in the travel market and is run by a proven CEO and team.” UpTake is also unveiling a new Content Partner Program, enabling publishers to provide the most up-to-date content to the UpTake visitor. UpTake partners include: BedandBreakfast.com, Restauranti.ca, OpenTable, La Quinta Inn & Suites, Away.com, and FriendCommunications, the leader in online reservations for RV parks and campgrounds. “Bedandbreakfast.com has the most comprehensive database of B&Bs and UpTake has the most comprehensive database of travel information to help travelers make more informed decisions to improve their vacation experience. By joining UpTake’s Content Partner program, BedandBreakfast.com and UpTake are working together to ensure that travelers can find the right B&B given their travel preferences,” said John Banczak, chief operating officer of BedandBreakfast.com. About UpTake Founded in 2006, UpTake has collected and organized more than 20 million traveler reviews, ratings, blogs and articles from across the web to help travelers to make better decisions about where to go, where to stay and what to do. UpTake uses a travel ontology and natural language analysis to extract meta-tags from the collective intelligence it has collected and returns unbiased, personalized recommendations based on travelers’ facts and feelings. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, California with global engineering teams in Beijing and Moscow. More information can be found at uptake.com.