Spark Networks has prevailed in a patent infringement case, the company announced last week.
Last Thursday, the dating provider announced in a press release that the United States District Court for the District of Delaware ruled to dismiss claims brought against the company by Jedi Technologies, Inc.
Jedi Technologies alleged patent infringement on the part of Spark Networks and certain affiliates.
The claims were tied to four patents owned by Jedi that it alleged Spark had infringed.
The four patents were all entitled “System and Method for the Automated Notification of Compatibility between Real-Time Network Participants”, and described a method for a server to “automatically notify chatters if another chatter is compatible.”
In its decision, Spark’s lawyers Fox Rothschild wrote that the court said Jedi’s claims were invalid because each claimed the abstract concept of matching online chatters based on criteria like personality or location without providing the kind of meaningful limitations needed to make the subject matter patent-eligible.
As the law firm said, in other words, the court found that the patents-in-suit do nothing more than “recite the performance of some business practice known from the pre-Internet world along with the requirement to perform it on the Internet.”
Danny Rosenthal, the CEO of Spark Networks, said: “We are pleased that the Delaware District Court reached the right conclusion in its ruling on this matter.
“The filing of false claims regarding patent infringement designed purely to generate monetary gains is all too common.
“The Court’s decision unequivocally denies the claims against Spark and we hope sends a clear message to others who might pursue similar actions.”