6,269,343 Reasons Why Groupon is Sounding Like Travie McCoy

You have probably heard a lot about Google's rumored $6B acquisition of Groupon.

It has created a lot of buzz from Silicon Valley to Wall Street and everywhere in between.

Dan Butcher (associate editor at www.mobilemarketer.com) remarked that "despite the popularity of Groupon’s online and mobile platforms, the benefits of the acquisition are not immediately apparent, especially given that the business model seems easy to replicate."

However, what Mr. Butcher and others might have overlooked is one of Groupon's key assets ... U.S. Pat. No. 6,269,343 ("On-line Marketing System and Method").  The '343 claims appear broad and potentially date back to 1998, which means that it could be difficult to invalidate them with prior art. (To date, no reexamination request has been filed.)

So, if you "wanna be a billionaire", then remember to take your intellectual property issues seriously.  Without the '343 patent (and other IP rights), Groupon's business model might in fact be “easy to replicate" and we wouldn't be hearing rumors of a $6B acquisition.