Local.com just announced that it received this patent for an “ad supported 411 local search model.” It would seem to conflict with Jingle Networks’ patent covering contextual ad serving in a DA environment. And then there’s the looming Geomas local patent that has both online and mobile implications. What about the Ingenio patents around PPCall? (the Local.com mobile patent implicates PPCall.)
There’s also a lesser-known local search patent that Microsoft owns through its acquisition of Vicinity Corp. in 2002.
How all these potentially conflicting local search patents relate to one another is hard to determine and most likely will have to be resolved through litigation at some point.
Screenwerk 
November 16, 2007 at 5:39 pm
[…] and local search patents. Some have disputed the legitimacy of those patents. And there are some apparently conflicting patents that have been awarded in the local and mobile segments. That said, Local.com appears to have begun […]
October 11, 2009 at 2:06 pm
[…] based on user location”) but that “art” appears to be on a collision course with several others making similar, sweeping claims. At some point there will be litigation, but for now Local.com is […]
April 4, 2012 at 2:35 am
[…] one from Jingle Networks, says ClickZ. This means litigation and consolidation in the industry. Greg Sterling: There GA_googleFillSlotWithSize("ca-pub-3457929887116739", "gigaom_ros_post_footer", 300, […]