MIT Profs Sue Ask Jeeves For Patent Infringement

By: Brian Krebs, Newsbytes

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A professor and a research scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have filed a lawsuit against online search
engine Ask Jeeves Inc. [NASDAQ:ASKJ], saying the service infringes upon patents the two hold in "natural language" question-and-answer technology.

Patrick Winston, an MIT professor of artificial intelligence and computer science, and Boris Katz, a research scientist at the school's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, filed a cease-and-desist order Thursday against the Emeryville, Calif., company, and are seeking damages and payment of royalties for use of the technology.

The suit could present Ask Jeeves with some sticky copyright and intellectual property dilemmas: the company recently entered into a
partnership with Microsoft, which is using Ask Jeeves' technology to roll out its own ask-the-butler customer support service, Ask Maxwell.
Just last week, Ask Jeeves reached an agreement with Vodafone AirTouch to provide Internet content for AirTouch, the carrier's US network.

Filed in a US District Court in Boston, the suit alleges that Ask Jeeves' use of "natural language" technology infringes upon two patents issued to Winston and Katz in 1994 and 1995 that "relate to methods for facilitating the retrieval of computer text and database material."

The technology employed by the Ask Jeeves search engine is unique in that it allows users to query the system by typing in a simple question. For example, when a user types in the question, "Why is the sky blue?" the service pulls the information off the World Wide Web and gives it to them straight, without having first to browse through numerous home pages to find the information.

Attorneys for both Winston and Katz and Ask Jeeves Inc. declined to offer
comment at this time.