CollegeNET Settles Admissions Application Patent Litigation for More Than $15 Million
Alleged Infringers Granted Licenses for CollegeNET’s '042 and '278 Patents
Portland, OR, February 8, 2010
CollegeNET, Inc., a provider of web-based, on-demand technologies for colleges and universities, announced that it has completed settlements with various defendants related to alleged infringement of CollegeNET patents covering web admissions application processing. The litigations centered around CollegeNET’s '278 and '042 patents, which relate to vendor hosting and servicing of web-based forms and applications. Although the specific terms of each settlement agreement are confidential, each entails cash payments to CollegeNET in exchange for licensing rights to use CollegeNET's patented technology. To date, parties to these settlement agreements include Applications Online, The Common Application, Hobson's (ApplyYourself) and Princeton Review.
Key features of the '278 and '042 patents include the hosting of customized web forms on behalf of colleges and universities, providing data in a format specified by the institutions, and electronically processing payments. CollegeNET's '278 patent provides the additional ability to share common data across such customized forms, thus minimizing the tedium imposed on students who are filling out multiple application forms. These patented features form the foundation for the modern, outsourced processing by vendors of admissions applications over the web.
CollegeNET broke ground in the mid-1990s with several key innovations related to web forms commerce. In a sea of purveyors of CD-Rom and floppy diskette solutions, CollegeNET was the first vendor to promote a 100 percent web-based approach to the processing of admissions applications. During the early internet period, there remained considerable market skepticism about signatures, security of electronic payments, demographic access to the web, dropped connections and data security over the web. There was also considerable doubt in the investment banking community as to whether there could ultimately exist a viable market for third party vendors for web-based admissions application service; colleges and universities themselves were predicted to be the eventual servicers of their own web-based admissions applications.
Today, CollegeNET is one of the largest outsourced web servicers of college admissions applications, processing well over 1 million admission applications annually. Among several hundred institutions, CollegeNET’s higher education admissions clients include Princeton University, University of Michigan, Ohio State University and the University of Washington.
Media Contacts:
Schwartz Communications, Inc.
Allison Bedard
415-512-0770
CollegeNET@schwartz-pr.com
About CollegeNET, Inc.
CollegeNET, Inc. builds web-based, on-demand technologies that help institutions improve operational efficiency, enhance communication with constituents and save money. The company’s systems are used by more than 1,300 organizations worldwide for event and academic scheduling, prospect and admissions management, Web-based tuition processing, IT change management and alumni development. CollegeNET operates a fast-growing social network through which students create topics, write about them, and vote to determine who will win scholarships. Today, this site—www.collegenet.com—is one of the Internet’s most popular destinations for college-bound students. The company is headquartered in Portland, Oregon.