NeoMedia Technologies, Inc (NEOM)

[Poptech]

PC: By NeoMedia's new definition, almost every barcode is now indirect. This means there really is no such thing as direct.

However, they are going to run into problems with their own published materials.

The NeoMedia definitive guide:

In contrast, indirect barcodes usually just contain an index to a database that contains information associated with that code. The mobile code is read in the same way as a direct barcode, by taking a picture of it with the mobile device’s camera. It is then decoded by software running on the mobile device, e.g. NeoReader that creates a URL to a web address specified in the application that contains that index and then sends it on.

Even the most recent '597 patent, NeoMedia's counsel again clarifies what the patents don't include:

(URL) is encoded directly into the bar code and is therefore not an index in the context of the Applicant's claimed invention.

He also wrote about the '048 patent:

"A computer database is provided that relates UPC codes to Internet URLs, for example (col. 3, lines 30-32). The inventors realized the great benefits in using this code-address database lookup schema, in that it eliminates the need for separately disseminating domain names or other network location data by using standardized or preassigned codes..."

" As such Wellner teaches away from the use of an independently hosted lookup database to access pointers as a function of an index obtained from the scanning of a bar code, as in the present invention. Wellner instead teaches that it is desirable to encode the URL directly into the bar code.

So, it would be interesting to see how NeoMedia now argues that an index now comprises a URL. However, given the time to trial, we will likely never see that argument since the patents will expire first.