Patent Suit Filed Against Dell, Office Depot, J.C. Penney, Williams-Sonoma, J. Crew

Internet Media Corp. announces:

Internet Media Corp. filed a patent infringement lawsuit today against Dell . . ., Office Depot . . ., J.C. Penney . . ., Williams-Sonoma . . ., and J. Crew Group. . . .

Filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, the suit charges the named parties with infringing Internet Media's patent related to the use of codes to facilitate access to the Internet.

It is not clear from the press release which patents are involved, however, there are two listed on Internet Media Corp's website.

From the abstract of U.S. Patent No. 6,049,835 [pdf]:

A system for quickly and easily accessing preselected desired addresses or URLs on the Internet is disclosed in which a published list of Internet or World Wide Web sites together with their unique jump codes is utilized in connection with a corresponding specialized Web site which is accessed by a user using either a personal computer or a TV Internet Terminal and remote control, after which access a jump code corresponding to the preselected desired URL is entered by the user and software contained in the specialized Web site immediately and automatically accesses the desired Web site.

From the abstract of U.S. Patent No. 6,769,018 [pdf - 1.1M]:

A system for quickly and easily accessing preselected desired addresses or URLs on the Internet is disclosed in which a unique jump code for a particular desired address is published by printing it in an advertisement in a Yellow Pages directory or in a newspaper advertisement or by announcing it during a television or radio program. The user enters the jump code into an Internet location for receiving it, e.g., the home page of the Yellow Pages publisher, to access the desired address without typing the full URL. The user can then receive more information, promotional coupons, or the like.

More: Ronald J. Schutz (attorney at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi representing Internet Media Corp.)