British Telecom’s Mobile Information-Tailoring Patent Invalid

A British Telecommunications PLC patent covering a method for transmitting relevant information to a mobile phone user based on their location is invalid, the Federal Circuit said Wednesday in response to a challenge by IAC/InterActiveCorp.

BT sued IAC in Delaware federal court for allegedly infringing U.S. Patent No. 6,397,040, which outlines a system for “tracking a user’s location, generating a ‘shortlist’ of information sources relevant to the user’s location, and transmitting that shortlist to the user’s terminal.”

BT alleged that IAC’s Match, Tinder, and Vimeo subsidiaries infringed. The district court dismissed the case, finding the patent was directed to ...