The US Patent and Trademark Office Tuesday awarded affiliate marketer LinkShare Corp. a patent on the technology behind its affiliate program.
Specifically, Patent No. 5,991,740 covers a “data processing system for integrated tracking and management of commerce related activities on a public access network.”
The grant comes at a time when Internet companies are waging legal battles over patents, and when some in the industry are criticizing the patent office for giving legal protection to technology and processes that they feel are too broad.
“It confirms that we are the innovators in the space,” said Heidi Messer, president of New York-based LinkShare. And, perhaps more importantly for LinkShare, it ensures that no one will come along and challenge its right to use the affiliate technology.