January 10, 2001, 2:47 PM — A U.S. federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order, effective Jan. 12 to March 15, that forbids Juno Online Services from displaying third-party advertisements on a floating banner window used by the ISP. Rival ISP NetZero sought a restraining order as part of its federal lawsuit against Juno, alleging that Juno's advertising and navigation window violates a NetZero patent.
However, according to Juno, the temporary restraining order that was granted is not as broad as that sought by NetZero. Juno proposed the less-restrictive order that limits the display of third-party advertising, which accounts for less than 4% of Juno's revenue, Juno said in a news release Monday. Juno still can advertise its own service on the ad banner.
About two-thirds of Juno's revenue comes from subscriptions to its billable premium services with the remainder from advertising and e-commerce, the release said. Juno contends that its banner ad does not infringe "on any valid patent" from NetZero.
NetZero predictably hailed the temporary restraining order as a victory for its side. The ISP, in Westlake Village, Calif., contends in the lawsuit filed Dec. 26, 2000 that Juno's floating advertising window, dubbed the Juno Guide, infringes on U.S. patent number 6,157,946, issued Dec. 6 of last year. The patent relates to an ISP's display of ads or messages via a window separate from the Web browser.
Juno sued NetZero and Qualcomm last June 1, alleging the two infringed a patent on technology for displaying advertising and other content when a user is not connected to the 'Net.
Juno can be reached at 212-597-9005 or www.juno.com/. NetZero can be reached at 805-418-2020 or www.netzero.com.
