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Paid listings provider Overture quietly settled a trademark infringement lawsuit on Friday, brought by insurance company Geico.
The details of the settlement are confidential, but will not require Overture to change any of its business practices, said an Overture spokeswoman.
As of presstime, Geico's case against search engine giant Google was still scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 13.
The Overture settlement occurred about one week after federal district court judge Leonie Brinkema denied a motion by Google asking her to decide the case in its favor based solely on the affidavits and other documents.
Instead, she ruled on Nov. 19, a trial was needed to flesh out the factual issues. The trial, expected to last one week, will not involve a jury.
In its lawsuit, Geico accused Google and Overture, a Yahoo! company, of violating the Geico trademark by selling Geico competitors the ability to display links to their Web sites when consumers search for the name "Geico."
Brinkema earlier ruled that such practices can violate Geico's trademark, if they lead to consumer confusion.
"When defendants sell the rights to link advertising to plaintiff's trademarks, defendants are using the trademarks in commerce in a way that may imply that defendants have permission from the trademark holder to do so," Brinkema wrote in a prior ruling.
The case, and other similar cases pending in the United States, France, Germany, and Italy, could have dire consequences for Google, which frequently provides sponsored links to ads for companies that compete with the ones users have actually queried about.
In a recent report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Google stated that a defeat in court could ultimately lead to "a loss of revenues on a prospective basis." The company also stated that it couldn't estimate the magnitude of the potential loss.
The nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen weighed in on Google's side by filing friend of the court briefs on the search engine's behalf.
The group is concerned about the use of trademark laws to stifle competition--which it views as a danger of a Geico court victory.
"There is a continuing interest in protecting the right to advertise to consumers," said Public Citizen attorney Paul Alan Levy.
Allowing competing insurance companies to get their links in front of Web surfers who query for Geico can ultimately lead to increased competition and lower prices, Levy said.
Source: MediaPost
Starting in October, Overture will be introducing "Budget smoothing", a new feature in which its system makes adjustments to the frequency in search listings that are displayed based on the depletion of a specified budget.
For example, if you have budgeted €100,00 a day, our system will display your listings just enough so that you receive clicks that will total approximately €100,00 for the day.
The smoothing feature also regulates the display of your listings so that you receive clicks throughout the day, rather than burning through your budgeted amount in just a few hours.
Note that listings will be taken offline temporarily when our system identifies that you have reached your budget for a particular period.
Display of your listings will be automatically resumed when the system recognises that your budget will permit more click charges.
At all times, your click charges will equal €0.01more than the max bid of your next lowest active (online) competitor.
Overture has modified its Advertiser Terms & Conditions to reflect the above changes. We strongly suggest you review the new version of our T&Cs as your continued use of Overture constitutes acceptance of the modified Advertiser Terms & Conditions.
However, if you choose to discontinue listing with Overture under these terms, please note that Overture has the right to close your account as we are not able to continue offering our service under the old Terms and Conditions.
Source: Overture / Germany
Overture Performance Marketing launches Search Optimizer, an enhanced campaign optimization product designed to help advertisers maximize the effectiveness of their Overture sponsored search campaigns.
The launch of Search Optimizer, now available in the U.S., demonstrates Overture's ongoing commitment to generating greater value for its advertisers by providing them with simplified campaign management solutions and valuable insights to better inform their marketing decision-making process.
"Overture is always looking for ways to help our advertisers use sponsored search campaign management to enable them to focus on running their businesses," said Steven Mitgang, senior vice president and general manager of Overture Performance Marketing. "Search Optimizer fulfills this need by helping advertisers increase the performance of their sponsored search campaigns and save time, ultimately enabling them to more efficiently meet their business objectives."
Search Optimizer allows Overture advertisers to improve their campaign performance and reduce the amount of time spent managing their listings by offering them the ability to easily:
-- Optimize campaigns based on business objectives such as cost-per-acquisition (CPA), cost per click (CPC), return on ad spend (ROAS) and others;
-- Automate keyword bidding based on performance-driven bid recommendations tied to their unique business objectives;
-- Sort campaigns by performance to quickly and intuitively determine which campaigns/keywords need additional optimization;
-- Manage thousands of keywords through features that allow them to develop "watch lists" of their most important campaigns or keywords, perform advanced searches of their performance data and quickly download large amounts of information to an outside application;
-- Define active time frames for their listings.
The product builds on the core foundation of the campaign performance metrics provided in Marketing Console, which was launched in November 2003 and will remain in the Overture Performance Marketing product line.
Search Optimizer is a subscription based product and is available in the U.S. directly through Overture Performance Marketing and will soon be available through select search engine marketing partners.
Source: Overture
Overture plans to partner a local business directory provider to focus on Telstra's one-stop-shop online search and directory service, Sensis.
Sensis plans to assemble a formidable collection of information services, including White Pages, Yellow Pages, Whereis.com and the Trading Post, behind what's expected to be Australia's most comprehensive online and voice search product.
However, Mel Bohse managing director of the Australian division of search advertising giant Overture, was last Friday quietly confident about the company's prospects of competing with Sensis.
Bohse said her company, which plans to launch its own local content search service before the end of the year, was ready to compete with Sensis "head-to-head" and left clues it may leverage one of Sensis' pre-existing offline competitors.
The new product, called LocalMatch, is among the online search industry's first concerted attempts to provide genuine localised search services. It follows the release of an equivalent service in the US last week.
Bohse said having a local directory service product on the back-end was a necessity but wouldn't discuss how it would be sourced.
"Maybe the days of monopolistic attitudes in this country are almost over," said Bohse.
The comment could be a nod in the direction of Yellow Pages competitor Pink Pages, but Frost and Sullivan senior analyst Foad Fadaghi said Sensis' track-record for fiercely protecting its products may make such a competitor difficult to find.
"Sensis is very monopolistic in their approach; they pretty much sue anyone who tries to break into their area," said Fadaghi.
Even if Overture can strengthen its local search directory there maybe other obstacles to competing with Sensis.
According to Frost and Sullivan Overture has to overcome "inherent issues" reaching Australian small businesses that don't have a Web site.
"They typically don't spend much money on any form of advertising and if they do it's typically a Yellow Pages listing," said Fadaghi.
Overture's Bohse concedes that while ad agencies understand search, the small-to-medium sector is still some way behind.
"The mid-tier and definitely the majority of SMEs have not really played with search market very much and are not totally comfortable with how to go about it -- that's why were spend some time trying to educate those guys and there's a lot to educate," said Bohse.
"A lot" is in fact the majority of Australia's 1.3 million businesses, according to Overture.
A search college established by Overture targets individuals who would like to work in search or are in positions of power where they need to actually spend marketing dollars. While it covers basics such as setting up an account and placing bids, it’s really a method to test drive the Overture service.
Bohse said all students would be offered AU$100 worth of Overture search services to evaluate its advertising performance.
Frost and Sullivan expects a recent surge of interest in pay-per-click in Australia to have a moderate affect on overall online advertising revenues.
According to Fadaghi, it's more likely to lead to cannibalisation of existing online advertising revenue sources such as banner ads than draw it away from conventional offline methods.
Source: ZD Net.com.au
Overture announces the launch of Local Match™, its new sponsored search product which delivers local search listings to consumers searching online for local products and services.
Through Local Match, advertisers can precisely target customers interested in a specific neighborhood and present customized offers and business details to them.
Overture's Local Match listings appear today in the U.S. on Yahoo! and MyCity.com and will be displayed on other popular sites including MSN, ESPN.com and certain sites within the InfoSpace network, including online directory sites Switchboard.com and InfoSpace.com and search sites Dogpile.com, WebCrawler.com, MetaCrawler.com and Excite.com.
Through its strong network of distribution sites, Local Match offers advertisers of all sizes -- including businesses that do not have a Web site -- the opportunity to reach consumers searching online for products and services in the advertiser's local area.
"Overture has built upon its core sponsored search product to deliver a highly relevant and precise local offering to businesses of all sizes, whether they have a Web site or not," said Geoff Stevens, General Manager, Local for Overture.
"The launch of Local Match marks yet another addition to our growing suite of integrated sponsored search offerings. As the product evolves, we are confident that both advertisers and consumers will realize the significant value of the highly targeted marketing and incredibly relevant search experience enabled by Local Match."
"Local search represents a very significant opportunity for both small and large advertisers, as consumers go online to find local business information," said Greg Sterling, program director for The Kelsey Group.
"Our research shows that slightly more than 25% of commercial searches performed by online buyers today are local, and we expect that figure to grow over time as local search capabilities continue to improve."
Local Match enables advertisers of all sizes to precisely target customers who are searching the Web to find products and services from a local provider. Specifically, advertisers have the ability to pinpoint a geographic area surrounding their business (between 0.5 to 100 miles) in which they would like their search listing to be shown.
For example, an electronics store in Austin, Texas could choose to have its listings displayed only to users searching for "DVD player" within a five-mile radius of its location. Similarly, a large national consumer electronics retailer could use Local Match to tailor its listings and discounts to customers who are looking to purchase items at specific local stores.
In addition, for businesses that do not have a Web site, Local Match provides a customizable business information page that offers key details about their business, such as a street address, phone number, payment options, hours of operation and a dynamic map.
Local Match is available today in the United States directly through Overture (http://www.overture.com) and will also be offered through select directory partners and online marketplaces.
Source: ZD Net
Yahoo subsidiary Overture Australia has signed a deal with News Interactive, to provide advertising and search services to the News websites.
The sites include news.com.au, CareerOne, realestate.com.au and websites for newspapers such as The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Herald Sun and The Courier Mail.
News Interactive managing director Nic Jones said his company was the first internet network in Australia to implement Overture's entire online marketing suite.
"We believe that our agreement with Overture will set a precedent for the Australian industry," Mr Jones said in a statement.
"By combining the expertise of both our companies we will capture significant value in one of the fastest-growing online advertising markets".
Overture Australia managing director Mel Bohse said Overture's distribution network now reached 85 per cent of Australian internet users.
Source: SMH.com.au
Google could end up paying hundreds of millions of dollars to Yahoo, if it loses a little-noticed patent lawsuit, unfolding in a San Jose courtroom.
The case pits Google against Overture Services, an Internet advertising company bought by Yahoo last year. Overture claims it patented an online bidding system for ads seven months before Google introduced a similar system.
Patent attorneys who have reviewed the suit said Overture's patent claims can't be easily dismissed.
``I think there is merit based on the breadth of the claims,'' said Dave Ashby, a patent attorney with the IP Strategy Group in Cupertino. ``I took a look at it and said, `Yep, Google does that. Yep, Google does that.' ''
A key ruling in the 2-year-old case -- which could determine whether the two sides settle or forge ahead to a jury trial -- is expected at any time, say patent attorneys who have reviewed the suit.
Advertising made up about 95 percent of Google's $1 billion in revenue last year. If the company loses the patent suit, it would probably have to pay damages, license technology from Yahoo or alter how it manages its ad system.
Overture, then known as GoTo.com, filed its patent in May 1999 for a ``system and method for influencing a position on a search result list.'' The 43-page patent application details a system in which advertisers would be able to bid for better placement of ads in search-engine results and manage their accounts through a Web browser.
The U.S. Patent Office awarded the patent July 31, 2001. In February 2002, Google introduced its AdWords program -- a system that would eventually help reshape Internet advertising and legitimize search engines as a viable business. With AdWords, advertisers bid for the right to certain keywords. When a Google user types in that keyword as part of a search, the advertiser's pitch shows up near the results.
A tour operator in Hawaii, for example, might buy the terms ``Hawaii,'' ``vacation,'' ``volcano'' and ``beach,'' and its ads will appear next to Google search results for those terms. Advertisers bid against one another for keywords, with higher bidders getting better ad placement.
In its suit, filed in April 2002, Overture says Google is ``willfully'' and ``directly infringing'' on its patent. The company is seeking triple damages.
Google, which is in a mandated ``quiet period'' leading up to its IPO, declined to comment on the suit, as did attorneys representing both companies.
But in court documents, the company denies Overture's allegations. Among other things, Google is claiming that Overture was using its advertising system for more than a year before it filed for its patent. Patent law gives people a year to file patents after inventing something; a late filing automatically invalidates the patent.
Patent attorneys who have reviewed court documents have mixed views on Overture's chances of prevailing.
Mitchell Rosenfeld, a patent attorney with Capstone Law Group in San Mateo, said Google has submitted substantial evidence to show that Overture missed the one-year deadline.
Rosenfeld said a key issue in the case could end up being whether Overture was testing its technology or using a finished product.
On the other hand, Overture needs only to prove that Google infringed on one of the 67 claims in its patent. Also, Overture's patent application appears to have been well-researched by both the company and the patent office, said Bruce Sunstein of Bromberg & Sunstein in Boston.
``This is going to be a patent that is relatively difficult to knock out,'' Sunstein said.
Since late March, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White, a former patent attorney, has been analyzing the scope and meaning of Overture's patent, poring over each word and studying terminology such as ``database'' and ``search result list.'' It's a crucial step before a jury can be asked to decide whether a company has infringed on a patent. A ruling could come any day.
Known as ``Markman'' rulings, these decisions are often tipping points in patent cases, said patent attorney John Ferrell, co-founder of Carr & Ferrell in Palo Alto.
If the judge does not agree with one side's interpretation of the patent language, it will often push to settle the suit, he said.
The case is especially intriguing now that Internet search engines have become big business. When the suit was filed two years ago, Overture was suing an up-and-coming search engine with an unproven business model.
Today, Google is considered the king of Internet search. And Overture's stature increased when Yahoo acquired the company for $1.83 billion in stock and cash, incorporating its advertising technology and patents into its services.
``It's one of those things that two or three years ago wouldn't have been an issue,'' said Andy Beal, vice president of search marketing for WebSourced. ``But it just goes to show you how big search is.''
About half of all patent verdicts are overturned on appeal. And the stakes are high. Ultimately, the two sides will have to weigh the costs of a prolonged legal fight -- attorney bills in a case like this could reach $1 million a year -- against the possibility of losing.
``My observation is that there is this big lawsuit between two enormous players,'' Ashby said, ``and no one is paying attention to it.''
Source: Silicon Valley.com
David Karnstedt, general manager of direct business at Overture, said the paid search provider's focus is not on rising competition from Google but following its parent company's lead and luring money from traditional direct marketers.
After building its advertiser base with small businesses, Yahoo's Overture Services sees its biggest growth opportunity from large, traditional direct response advertisers.
"Our real challenge is not necessarily the other people that participating in the search space but shifting dollars from other direct response advertisers, like direct mail and yellow pages," he said at yesterday's Piper Jaffray Technology Conference in New York.
Search advertising drew $2.5 billion in 2003 compared to $48.6 billion for direct mail and $14 billion for yellow pages.
Yahoo's chief sales officer Wenda Harris Millard trumpeted the turnaround of the portal's brand advertising unit to its focus on industry verticals and the largest advertisers in those sectors.
"We're really focused on those top echelon advertisers," Karnstedt said. "Those are the type of people who help us drive our key economics."
To appeal to larger advertisers, Karnstedt said Overture would offer a portfolio of direct response vehicles. He said Overture would introduce its local search product this quarter and expand its performance-based product line to include its keyword search advertising, contextual listings, and paid inclusion.
The wide array of products, he said, would appeal to traditional direct response advertisers just getting fully involved in search marketing.
"What we're seeing amongst our most sophisticated marketers is less of a focus on the unit price, or price per click, and more of a focus on the overall return," he said.
Source: DM News
Under the deal, Overture ads will appear in categories where CitySearch has available ad inventory, such as home services, professional services and medical specialists.
CitySearch said Thursday that it has signed a deal with Yahoo's Overture Services to run the latter's paid ads in its local search listings for select cities and categories. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Overture specializes in selling advertising links that accompany search results on sites such as Yahoo and MSN.
The move comes little more than a year after CitySearch, which is owned by InterActiveCorp, introduced its own advertising service to compete with Overture on a local level.
The company unveiled a pay-per-click ad service, called Local Pay for Performance, which reflected the business model of Overture's national ad network. CitySearch sought to match up advertisers with consumers searching for local dining, entertainment and shopping services. Advertisers pay for the ads only when people click through.
Under terms of the deal, Overture ads will appear as "sponsored results" when a customer uses CitySearch for conducting a local search.
Local search has been the rage of late. Last month, Google launched what it called Google Local, a service that helps Web surfers find local businesses by typing in a search term and a city name.
The market for local advertising online is small, but analysts are predicting it will eventually take a larger chunk of the $12 billion overall market for local ads in the United States. CitySearch had been talking with Google about a partnership.
Source: C-Net News
Overture and Mooter have entered a two-year agreement which will see Mooter's fledgling search portal carry the Yahoo!-owned, pay-per-click advertising supplier's sponsored listings placed alongside its own.
Australian Web search start-up, MooterSearch, has moved to monetise its online search portal, mooter.com.au.
MooterSearch, which launched its search engine in October last year, has secured a deal with paid search listings provider Overture.
MooterSearch is one of a growing number of search minnows nipping at the heels of the Internet search heavy-hitters such as Google and Yahoo.
The company Mooter has drawn revenue from licensing fees for its patented personalised algorithmic search technology, but the agreement represents the company's first backyard test to see how well its theories on search behaviour convert to cash.
Mooter's search technology attempts to anticipate an individual's search aspirations by studying their behaviour patterns. The MooterSearch portal displays search results in diagrammatically in "clusters".
MooterSearch CEO, Leisl Capper, a trained psychologist, said that examining the behaviour patterns of Web users on the diagram gives clues as to what they need.
Capper believes that examining the "underlying patterns of personal search" rather than just keywords will result in more relevant advertising being served to the end-user.
She also pointed to the fact that small changes click-through rates can mean significant changes in revenue volumes.
In this sense Capper is critical of what she believes is the Web industry's current approach to search personalisation. She claims it's too reliant on theories regarding demographic behaviour.
"I know from my ten years of psychology research it's not really a safe assumption to say that age or where they live or gender is a good basis for deciding what they're interested in," she said.
Capper also bemoaned the gravitation of the market toward Google and the homogenisation of the search experience.
MooterSearch has avoided developing a business relationship with Google as the company doesn't allow its partners to mix its search results with those of other providers.
"We think our own algorithms are pretty good. We don't just want to be a Google portal which is what you end up being," she said.
Mooter's algorithmic search engine accesses the company's home-grown global listing index. It's a hybrid index comprised of its own listings and those drawn from meta-searches of Yahoo!'s Inktomi search engine.
But while she says Google as the 800-pound Gorilla today, it's clear she sees other threats on the horizon.
"I sincerely hope consumers still want choice and Microsoft doesn't slay us all."
Source: ZD Net
Overture Services has launched a mobile travel directory in the UK provided by location-based mobile marketing firm Mobile Commerce.
Overture and Mobile Commerce will start distribution through Vodafone UK and Orange; other participating operators will be announced shortly.
Users browsing the travel section of a network operator's Wap portal -- such as Vodafone Live! and Orange World -- will see links to a menu allowing them to select the travel service they are interested in.
The system will return a basic display of results, and the user can click through to the advertiser's Wap page for more information.
Advertisers can bid for paid listings against specific keywords, which are prioritised according to the top paying advertisers for the category requested -- advertisers will pay Overture once the user has clicked on their link.
Martin Child, managing director Overture Northern Europe, said: "It is our mission to provide paid-for listings to find new ways to connect with customers online and so mobile paid listings are a natural transition.
"Initially we will deploy our successful commercial search model on text and location-based services, gradually moving on to more sophisticated applications allowing easy migration to 3G."
Steve Page, chief executive officer at Mobile Commerce, said: "Mobile is one of the fastest growth areas in Europe and we expect that non-voice sectors such as mobile search, will grow exponentially over the next five years."
Ben Taylor, Vodafone spokesman, said: "We are always looking for opportunities to offer a range of content to our customers under our easy-to-use menu.
We have around 200 content providers, one of which is Overture, and through this partnership we are able to extend our ability to get news to the customer."
Source: Revolution.com
