![]() ![]() Google Earth began as a Google service in 2005 after Google’s 2004 acquisition of Keyhole Inc., which previously created a product called EarthViewer 3D, according to the complaint. It operates in a way that is remarkably similar to the Terravision system developed by ART+COM in the mid-90s. Instead, the patent covers the basic technology that, for example, allows Google Earth users to fly over the earth to a particular destination, and then look at details like weather, buildings, and other images. In a prepared statement, Scott Partridge, the lead counsel for ACI in the case, said: “The ART+COM patent is not directed to a mere feature of Google Earth. We understand SGI subsequently used Terravision as a demonstration of the capabilities of their Onyx computers.”ĪRT+COM declined a request from eWEEK for further comment about the lawsuit. Jones when he was at SGI, where he was our designated contact person. “In the course of developing Terravision, our inventors worked directly with Michael T. (SGI) which were the most powerful available at the time for processing and displaying graphical data,” an ACI spokesman said in a statement. ![]() “Terravision was developed using Onyx computers of Silicon Graphics, Inc. The lawsuit alleges that “both Jones and McClendon were aware of Terravision and generally familiar with its capabilities from their tenure with SGI,” where they previously worked before joining Google. ![]() “Users can navigate seamlessly from overviews of the earth to extremely detailed objects and buildings.” Terravision “is a networked virtual representation of the earth based on satellite images, aerial shots, altitude data and architectural data” that “serves as an environment to organize and access information spatially” when accessed by users. ![]() The lawsuit alleges that “Google Earth can be traced directly to ACI’s patented method through Google Earth’s ‘development’ history, including current executives.” The complaint also alleges that “Google Earth bears remarkable similarities to ART+COM’s commercial system, which was developed nearly a decade prior to Google’s introduction of Google Earth.”ĪRT+COM’s lawsuit alleges that two of Google’s current executives-Michael Jones, the chief technical officer of Google Earth, and Brian McClendon, the head of the Google Geo Group and vice president of engineering for Google Maps, “previously worked for companies that had access to information regarding the implementation of Terravision.” RE44,550, entitled ‘Method and Device for Pictorial Representation of Space-related Data,’ relating to its Google Earth Technology,” the statement continues. “ACI, which is a spin-off of ART+COM AG, charges that Google Earth products infringe U.S. 20 in United States District Court in Delaware, claims Google Earth displays “a remarkable similarity to the Terravision system developed by ART+COM in the 90s and whose technology its inventors had patented back then,” according to a statement from Berlin-based ART+COM. Google is being sued by a German design and engineering company over allegations that its Google Earth product infringes on the patents held for a similar product invented by the company, ART+COM, back in 1994. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. EWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. ![]()
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