GeoCities signed an agreement to license Parable’s multimedia technology for use
by GeoCities members, allowing GeoCities Homesteaders and GeoShops merchants a
way to create multimedia content that they can lock to a specific site or
domain.
The Parable tool can be used to create animated logos, scenes, interactive
puzzles and
games.
In addition, the deal will allow for intellectual properties such as
copyrighted materials, trademarks, logos, video and audio clips to be used on GeoCities
without risk of alteration or illegal use, allowing marketers to reach a
target audience while protecting their brands on the Net.
GeoCities will integrate a GeoCities-branded version of Parable’s multimedia
authoring tool, ThingMaker Personal Edition (TMPE) with a special “publish
Things” feature, to its members. No coding is required. Financial arrangements
were not disclosed.
As part of the agreement, GeoCities will also integrate ThingSearch, Parable’s
searchable database of general and branded multimedia “Things.” Members will
have access to the hundreds of “Things” available in the “Thing” database that
they will be able to easily publish to their personal homepages.
“Our model assumes that
commerce, as well as content, can be powered by “Things” and “Thing”
technology and that the supply and demand of content is what is pushing
membership and commerce in the community/portal space,” said Steve Barlow, CTO and co-founder of Parable. “Our multi-year
relationship with GeoCities validates
this.”
The agreement between the companies also provides for cooperative marketing
and promotions, including banner advertising.