DoubleClick Sues Aussie Rival

Internet ad giant DoubleClick has commenced legal
action against Australian rival Sabela
Media.

DoubleClick launched the law suit against last week, claiming the
Sydney-based Sabela had infringed its patent on the technology known as
“adserving.”

Adserving technology delivers online advertisements to Web sites, and
manages and measures the number of units delivered to help clients
determine the click through response rate from the campaign.

DoubleClick applied for the patent to this technology in 1996, which was
approved by the US Patent and Trademark Office in September.

Although Sabela’s executive chairman and co-founder Gour Lentell was
unavailable for comment before press time, the timing of the law suit has
come at a time when Sabela was seeking to secure an AUS$18.2 million (US$12
million) injection of capital from a group of US venture capitalists, that
would aid its move into the US market.

This follows on from a AUS$3.1 million investment the company received
from Japanese mobile phone battery manufacturer Tokado, which fueled
Sabela’s initial move into the US market.