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`AdMission Wins Far-reaching Patent
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`By Kevin Newcomb | June 3, 2005
`
`After nearly six years of legal wrangling, online classifieds technology provider
`AdMission Corp. is now the proud owner of a patent that could affect scores of
`companies -- including online advertisers, Web publishers and other ad technology
`firms -- whose technology deals with digital media files.
`
`On May 17, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued U.S. Patent No. 6,895,557
`entitled "Web-based Media Submission Tool," which describes a process of collecting
`media objects -- such as digital photos, video and audio files -- from remote
`contributors.
`
`"This patent covers the efficiency of being able to do pre-processing on all sorts of
`media files, on all kinds of devices," said Sarah Pate, president and CEO, AdMission.
`
`AdMission uses the technology described in the patent for its advertising applications
`that let users add images to a publisher's online classifieds, yellow pages and e-
`commerce sites. The company licenses its platform to eBay, and hosts applications
`for companies like Cars.com, Realtor.com, The Washington Post, Knight Ridder
`Digital, Tribune Interactive, and the New York Times. AdMission is offered as fully
`featured products via AdMission Classifieds and AdMission Directories or as a custom
`integrated solution.
`
`At the core of the patent is the automation and intelligence built into the process of
`handling and transporting rich media files. The patent covers all automatic resizing
`and formatting of digital images, as well as the generation of a thumbnail image to
`allow a user to verify the file to be submitted.
`
`"We'll continue to heavily invest in our platform, which leverages the processes
`described in this patent," Pate said. "But we're also looking for licensing
`opportunities outside of our core markets. We'll focus first on places where media is
`heavily used to communicate, and where it has to be efficient."
`
`Those non-core markets could include media file handling for advertising and e-mail,
`photo sharing and printing sites, and even blogging. These areas have companies
`that are already using technology covered by the patent or could benefit from doing
`so, according to Scott Lewis, VP product strategy at AdMission and one of the original
`authors of the patent.
`
`"If you want to understand where it would apply, look for any case where you have
`lots of media being collected," Lewis said. "If you look at portals, they tend to have a
`whole set of functionality ranging from auctions and classifieds, to personals, to
`
`Exhibit 2046, Page 1
`Google Inc. v. Summit 6 LLC
`IPR2015-00806, Summit 6 LLC
`
`

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`instant messaging and e-mail, to communities and blogging -- all of which utilize
`photos and other files collected from billions of remote contributors. You can look at
`those examples and start to extrapolate the impact."
`
`The patent application was originally filed by PictureWorks in July 1999. PictureWorks
`was then acquired by IPIX, which restructured itself a few times. In February 2005,
`AdMission separated itself from its parent via a management buyout, taking the
`patent portfolio along with it.
`
`"When we filed the patent, we had a vision of how media was going to be used to
`communicate and enable commerce. We really think that's coming to fruition and
`accelerating very rapidly now. The patent for us is far more valuable to us today
`than it would have been had it been issued earlier," Pate said.
`
`The '557 patent faced several legal obstacles over objections that it was being
`interpreted too broadly. It seems to cover in very general terms the means by which
`any media file -- including photos, videos, music files or even text -- is uploaded,
`undergoes any sort of server-side processing and is displayed on the Web, according
`to Peter Zollman, founding principal of analyst firm Classified Intelligence.
`
`"The patent doesn't merely give AdMission exclusive ownership of the processes -- it
`gives AdMission the rights to the concept of uploading files, massaging them and
`redisplaying them in any sort of standardized, homogenized fashion," Zollman said.
`"For AdMission, future licensing revenues are of unfathomable proportions."
`
`
`
`Exhibit 2046, Page 2
`Google Inc. v. Summit 6 LLC
`IPR2015-00806, Summit 6 LLC