comScore and Moat Settle Lawsuit

comScore and viewability measurement firm Moat have voluntarily agreed to withdraw the claims each firm made during a patent infringement lawsuit brought by comScore last year.

Launched in 2010 by brothers Jonah and Noah Goodhart, Moat provides a search engine for display ads, along with heatmap analytics for measuring online ad effectiveness. The company's Moat Analytics platform tracks campaigns in real-time, and aims to measure engagement rather than clicks.

A year ago, comScore launched a patent infringement lawsuit against Moat, as well as against ad-tech start-ups DoubleVerify, and Integral Ad Science (formerly known as Ad Safe), claiming the firms had violated eight of its viewability patents concerning ways to monitor, measure, and report on how ad content is displayed online. comScore had acquired these patents from Nielsen, following an infringement lawsuit in which comScore had argued that the patents were invalid.

In May this year, DoubleVerify and Integral Ad Science settled with comScore, but Moat continued with the case, acquired a patent of its own from ad tech company C3i, and countersued comScore. In the latter suit, Moat accused comScore of lobbying the IAB's Making Measurement Make Sense committee to develop an industry-wide standard for ad viewability, while not disclosing its ability to sue firms which attempt to comply with the standard.

Moat then asked for the trial to be adjourned, on the grounds that comScore had missed nine deadlines to produce information such as e-mail records; cancelled depositions at the last minute; and refused to answer questions. However, after comScore disputed these claims, District Judge Henry C. Morgan denied the adjournment and recommended that the firms sit down together to find a way to resolve the case. Following these discussions, on October 28, the parties agreed to dismiss their claims 'with prejudice'.

Web sites: www.comscore.com and www.moat.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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