Vuestar Technologies Pte Ltd, a Singaporean company, has sent invoices last week to owners of websites which it claimed were using a patented technology that enables “Internet searching via visual images”.
The Patent “A method of locating web – sites using visual images ”, granted to the Inventor Ronald Neville Langford who has assigned its use for licensing and other commercial exploitation to VUESTAR Technologies Pte Ltd of Singapore, is valid until 2021
Vuestar Technologies MD Paul Smith said Vuestar is now exercising its right to charge money for the use of its patent-protected technology which allows organisations to link images to other pages on their websites. If links on these pages then lead to the organisation’s contact information, Vuestar regards this as use of their technology.
Mr Smith said the company is not targeting users with personal websites. ‘We are going for those who use this technology for commercial advantage,’ he said. Websites which contain only text with no images are not at risk. He added that the websites targeted are those with a predominantly Singaporean audience, which include several overseas websites.
He said that in deciding who to send the invoices to, Vuestar relied heavily on information on each site’s traffic and viewership. He declined to reveal how many invoices the company has sent out, citing the ‘commercially sensitive’ nature of the information.
He said, however, that the amount the company is charging website users varies according to how extensively the technology is used on each website. The annual fee ranges from $200 for light users to as much as $10,000 for those who use the technology extensively on their websites.
Vuestar plans to gradually increase the number of invoices it sends out.
Arofanatics.com
Mr Alvin Koh, who runs a local hobbyist website on Arowana fish, told The New Paper that his business partner, whose name was used to register the website, received an invoice for $5,350 from Vuestar last week. He said: ‘Based on the letter I received, I didn’t have a good idea of how exactly my website was infringing any rules.’ Even after he called the company for an explanation, Mr Koh said he was still unclear on why he was being asked to pay a fee. He said: ‘It’s ridiculous. I plan to ignore them, but I would like people to be aware of this, and not simply pay up.’
InternetMarketingSingapore.com
Another website owner, Mr Stuart Tan, who runs Internetmarketingsingapore.com, also received an invoice from Vuestar Technologies for $2,600. He described the company’s demands as ‘ludicrous’, adding that he wondered if the company was out to bully owners of small businesses. He said: ‘It’s like a company patenting the process of going to school, then demanding money from those who do it.’ Mr Tan has written a post on his website and also submitted an article on Digg.com, an information-sharing website, to create awareness on this issue.
Lawyer Alban Kang
Lawyer Alban Kang, who specialises in intellectual property, said whether the patent holder has the right to demand payment depends on what the patent covers. He said: ‘In some cases, the patent may not even be valid in the first place. ‘Individuals should first seek legal advice to determine whether the company’s claims are valid.’ Mr Kang said the validity of a patent can sometimes be challenged if the patented idea is not new or novel, and if the idea has been readily available to a public for some time.
Vuestar.biz has a shared IP address 210.48.157.121 and is hosted at egnarosoft.com owned by OrangeSoft Sdn Bhd.
Registry Whois:
Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Expiration Date: 2009-12-16 23:59:59
Creation Date: 2007-12-17 04:58:48
Last Update Date: 2008-02-21 09:02:28
Name Servers:
ns3.egnarosoft.com
ns4.egnarosoft.com
Whois:
Created by Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Last Updated by Registrar: GODADDY.COM, INC.
Registrant Contact Information:
Name: Ron Langford
Organization: Goldspirit Investments Pty Ltd
Address 1: 8/25
Address 2: Edmonstone Street
City: South Brisbane
State: Queensland
Zip: 4101
Country: AU
Phone: +61.738466996
Fax: +61.738466996
Email:
Administrative, Technical and Billing Contact Information same as above
Goldspirit Investments Pty Ltd
http://au.vicdir.com/co-771271577-780552-0.htm
Contact:
SINGAPORE
Tel: +65 6333 1190
Fax: +65 6339 3389
SINGAPORE
VUESTAR Technologies Pte Ltd
L5-12 The Adelphi
1 Coleman Street
Singapore 179803.
AUSTRALIA
VUESTAR Technologies Pte Ltd
Quinta House
8/25 Edmonstone Street
South Brisbane. Qld 4101
Email
info@vuestar.biz
Patent:
US Patent #7065520 filed on 3rd Oct 2001 by Ronald Langford
Singapore Patent #95940 granted on 27th Oct 2003
Australia Patent #755035 filed on 2000 ceased due to failure to pay renewal fees.
Australian Application #200193479 - Not Found
Australian Application #2004903257 - Lapsed
Australian Application #2004903805 - Lapsed
Australian Application #2004903831 - Lapsed
New Zealand Patent #525601
Other patents filed by one Mr Ronald Neville Langford includes:
#2006200653 A digital wallet
* 2005242135 Verifying the Identity of a User by Authenticating a File
* 2006100013 Online gaming promotion having a software application
* 2002PS0708 Provision of an interactive directory information service via television
* 2002950174 Locating web sites using bar code technology - Lapsed
* 2004240196 Authenticating images identified by a software application
Aogami International Pty Ltd holds a patent in several countries for
“A METHOD OF LOCATING WEB–SITES USING VISUAL IMAGES”
Simply defined - In a searching function of any computerized database, when a search result is retrieved and a visual image such as a trademark, logo, icon or image containing a hyperlink to a web-page or web–site is used, the web–site owner uses this patented technology. The Company has developed a protocol and licensing network to use the technology by Search Engines, e-commerce directory and portal owners. Other features contained in the patent which provide an impact for faster searching and advertising revenue include the use of animation, sound and streaming video content.
Singapore law firm, Keystone Law Corporation send out an alert:
Visual Images Search Patent (PDF)
More story:
* Hardwarezone Forum - Is this a legitimate Singapore patent? (Vuestar Tech P/L)
* VR-Zone Forum - Australian VueStar.biz to sue all websites on internet
* Slashdot - Singapore Firm Claims Patent Breach By Virtually All Websites
* Newpaper - Local company tells websites to PAY UP
* ZDNetAsia - S’pore firm claims patent to image search
* Vuestar Technologies Are Patent Trolls? You may get sued for using ANY image on your site…
* Simply Jean - Imaging linking is patented, websites and blogs affected, Advertlets, Nuffnang and Blog2U may have to call it a day
* Alvinology - Vuestar: Imaging linking on the Internet is PATENTED
* Fireopal - A discovery in the Vuestar Scandal!!!
If you received the invoice from Vuestar, what are you going to do?
More information on Vuestar can be found at www.vuestar.biz
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