Court Clears HyphaMetrics of Infringing Nielsen Patents

A federal jury in Delaware has found that audience measurement firm HyphaMetrics did not infringe two Nielsen patents, for technology that detects on-screen graphics.

The jury found unanimously at the beginning of August that HyphaMetrics' Audience Measurement System - involving both hardware and software for tracking media consumption - does not infringe US Patent Numbers 10,970,588 and/or 11,652,901.

Launched in November 2020 by Drews (pictured) and Michael Bologna, both of whom had worked previously at GroupM and Comscore, HyphaMetrics uses a proprietary panel of 5,000 homes to track viewing across devices, then licenses the data to ad currency providers like Comscore and VideoAmp. Nielsen dropped another lawsuit against the company last summer.

Co-founder Joanna Drews, who returned to the role of CEO of HyphaMetrics last summer, called the verdict 'a monumental win for consumers and the entire media ecosystem,' and added, 'We are thrilled that the jury recognized [Nielsen's claims] were baseless and predatory.'

The companies are online at www.hyphametrics.com and www.nielsen.com .