Judge Urges TRA and WPP to Settle Differences

A US judge has ordered media measurement firm TRA and WPP to settle their differences through mediation, following their row over alleged patent infringement.

WPP is a long-time TRA strategic partner and investor, data provider, and licensee of the Media TRAnalytics software. This software matches TV data from set-top boxes (STBs) in 1.7 million households with CPG purchasing data from 57 million households, to link ads actually received with the products the same households actually buy.

In March - after what TRA describes as 'more than three years of confidential access' to its technology and processes - WPP-owned Kantar Media Audiences launched RapidView, a solution which TRA says has been positioned to directly compete with Media TRAnalytics.

Two months ago, WPP filed a lawsuit against TRA over the claims, and in response TRA last month filed a counterclaim, alleging that Kantar had stolen trade secrets and infringed on its patent in the development of RapidView.

Judge Shira Scheindlin has now ordered both parties to enter mediation before proceeding to trial.

Documents filed with New York's Southern District Court have revealed that earlier in the year, Kantar had discussed the possibility of acquiring TRA, but these talks ended without a deal. TRA subsequently claimed that after the talks broke down, WPP tried to persuade one potential TRA financier not to invest, in an attempt to 'starve TRA so that WPP could buy TRA on the cheap'.

Web sites: www.traglobal.com , www.wpp.com and www.kantarmedia-audiences.com .