The global law firm Fish & Richardson has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in a Virginia federal court on behalf of Rembrandt Social Media LP based on claims that Facebook Inc. and Add This Inc. used two Rembrandt patents without permission to help build the world's largest social media web site.
"We believe Rembrandt's patents represent an important foundation of social media as we know it, and we expect a judge and jury to reach the same conclusion based on the evidence," says attorney Tom Melsheimer, counsel for Rembrandt and managing principal of Fish & Richardson's Dallas office. Rembrandt Social Media, an affiliate of Rembrandt IP Management LLC, filed the lawsuit Feb. 5, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The lawsuit says Menlo Park, Calif.-based Facebook has infringed two Rembrandt patents, U.S. Patent No. 6,415,316 and No. 6,289,362. Vienna, Va.-based social media company Add This Inc. is accused of infringing the '362 patent. Both patents originally were issued to inventor "Jos" van der Meer more than ten years ago.
