Inter-Act Systems, Inc., Norwalk, CT, has filed a federal lawsuit against Catalina Marketing Corp., St. Petersburg, FL, claiming infringement of eight US. patents covering in-store database promotion systems. The patents related to this suit are part of a portfolio of patents recently acquired by Inter-Act pertaining to a broad range of targeted marketing techniques using collected purchase consumer data.
The action has been assigned to the Federal District Court judge who has been presiding over the original legal action that Inter-Act brought against Catalina in 1996. That suit charged that Catalina had infringed on a patent for in-store, paper-based couponing systems. That case, and certain subsequent counter-claims brought by Catalina, are still pending resolution.
InterAct’s chairman and ceo Stephen R. Leeolou comments that Catalina has challenged some of the more than 300 claims embodied in the so-called Deaton patents by provoking an interference proceeding in four U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices to challenge their validity. Inter-Act says it believes the patents to be valid and intends to defend them vigorously.
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