It’s the old adage -- you can’t fight City Hall -- words that in those of us who are smaller than the rest can convey a sense of despair and helplessness. Such a mindset is not shared by a technology company called Vringo (AMEX: VRNG), which decided this week it would take on one of the behemoths of the industry in Google (Nasdaq; GOOG) in court.
Founded six years ago, the Manhattan-based Vringo is a provider of software platforms for mobile social and mobile video services. With its award-winning video ringtone application and other mobile software platforms - including Facetones™ Video Remix and Fan Loyalty - Vringo transforms the basic act of making and receiving mobile phone calls into a highly visual, social experience.
According to the company’s website, "Vringo's video ringtone service enables users to create or take video, images and slideshows from virtually anywhere and turn it into their visual call signature. In a first for the mobile industry, Vringo has introduced its patented VringForward technology, which allows users to share video clips with friends with a simple call."
An article on the site known as TechCrunch this week chronicles the friendship between reporter James Altucher and inventor Ken Lang during grad school in the early ’90s, and how Lang in 1998 filed a patent on ranking Web page search results based on number of click-throughs.
The suit, launched in mid-March, alleges infringement of those patents by Google. A preliminary hearing on the suit is set for early June.
Altucher, allegedly a Vringo stockholder who added to his holdings after the release of the article, stated:
"The company sues Google for a big percentage of those $67 billion (U.S). in revenues plus future revenues. The claim: Google has willfully infringed on Vringo – I/P’s patents for sorting ads based on click-throughs. I remember almost 20 years ago when Ken was working on the software.
" 'Useless!' I thought then. Their claim: $67 billion of Google’s revenues come from this patent. All of Google’s revenues going forward come from this patent. And every search engine which uses Google is allegedly infringing on the Vringo patent and is being sued."
For sure, the suit made investors sit up and take notice, as one would expect when it involves a company as humungous as Google. The stock shot up 86% on Monday to $3.07 U.S., before settling during a short week at $2.62 U.S. on the Thursday before the long weekend. The court battle shaping up between this latter-day David and Goliath should prove interesting!
