Local.com = Die beste Suchmaschine.... - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[scopus]

Local.com Granted U.S. Patent Number 7,231,405 for Location-Based Search
Monday June 25, 7:00 am ET


Method of Geographical Searching and Indexing of Data by Location Is Industry Standard for Local Search


IRVINE, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jun 25, 2007 -- Local.com Corporation (NasdaqCM:LOCM - News), a leading local search engine, today announced that the company has been awarded patent number 7,231,405 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the process of indexing and retrieving web-related information by geographical location.
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The patent covers local search technology related to identifying location information from web documents, indexing that information and making it searchable geographically. In Local.com's commercial implementation of the technology, the search results are ranked by search term, LocalRank score, location prominence, among other factors. The system then extracts, matches and indexes web pages from the Internet and generates web references where applicable on more than 16 million local businesses listed nationwide on Local.com.

"We are very pleased to announce the granting of the patent number 7,231,405 as we believe the methods covered have subsequently become the de-facto standard for information retrieval in the local search industry," said Heath Clarke, Chairman and CEO, Local.com.

"This patent represents our continued commitment to developing products and services at the forefront of local search innovation. The unique technology related to geographical searching and indexing of web data gives us an advantage over conventional search technologies by providing improved relevance and better overall performance," continued Clarke. "We encourage other local search companies that are interested in using our intellectual property to enter into licensing agreements with Local.com."

To experience Local.com go to: http://www.local.com.

About Local.com

Local.com (NasdaqCM:LOCM - News) is a Top U.S. website attracting approximately 10 million visitors each month seeking information on local businesses, products, services, people and jobs. Powered by the company's patent-pending Keyword DNA® and patented local web indexing technologies, Local.com provides users with targeted, relevant local search results, including special offers from local businesses, user reviews, local businesses' website links, maps, driving directions and more. Businesses can advertise on Local.com with subscription, pay-per-click, banner and pay-per-call ad products. The site's mobile service, Local Mobile, provides local search results via mobile phones and devices. Local.com claims U.S. patent number 7,231,405. For more information visit: www.local.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this document regarding our anticipated financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of our management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this report, words such as 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'estimate,' 'plans,' 'expect,' 'intend' and similar expressions, as they relate to Local.com or our management, identify forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to our management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to monetize the Local.com domain, incorporate our local-search technologies, market the Local.com domain as a destination for consumers seeking local-search results, grow our business by enhancing our local-search services, expand our Advertiser and Distribution Networks, expand internationally, integrate and effectively utilize our acquisitions' technologies, develop our products and sales, marketing, finance and administrative functions and successfully integrate our expanded infrastructure, as well as our dependence on major advertisers, competitive factors and pricing pressures, changes in legal and regulatory requirements, and general economic conditions. Any forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this paragraph.

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason.



Contact:
Media Contacts:

Cameron Triebwasser
Local.com
949-789-5223
949-233-4480
Email Contact

Dan Chmielewski
Madison Alexander PR
714-832-8716
949-231-2965
Email Contact

Investor Relations Contact:

John Baldissera
BPC Financial Marketing
800-368-1217



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Local.com

[scopus]

LOCM besser als GOOGLE!!!

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Cell-phone secrets
How to get more out of your mobile communicator besides communication.
COLIN STEWART
Innovation
Register columnist
[e-mail] Second of two columns on new uses of mobile phones. Last week: an info-on-demand service for cell phones. Today: Local initiatives to bring environmental ratings, Wikipedia answers, and social networking to cell phones

Cell phones aren't living up to their potential. At least not yet.

They don't excel at much except person-to-person communications, whether that's a phone call, a text message or e-mail.

If you pay enough money or have enough patience, you can use smart phones, PDAs and specialized cell-phone programs to keep track of your datebook, ask for directions, avoid traffic accidents, find cheap gas and more.

But because most people don't want to spend the money or time, cell phones remain underachievers.

In contrast, the Internet is a place where people use PCs to hunt for information, download maps and directions, make friends, watch videos and shop. Unlike cell-phone networks, the Internet is easy and relatively inexpensive to use.

It's easy to use because it operates through standardized software such as HTML and, like it or not, Microsoft's near-monopoly operating system for PCs. In contrast, cell phones are a hodgepodge of software and hardware.

The fact that the Internet is a bargain stems back to its roots as a publicly supported government /academic initiative in the late 1960s. Cell-phone networks were built by for-profit companies, which are slow to innovate and want to get repaid for the billions they've put into them.

Despite those obstacles, cells phones are slowly becoming more versatile, and companies nationwide are working on ways to make them as useful as personal computers.

As a result, people with the right devices can already do some cool, free cell-phone tricks that give a sense of what's to come. Here are a few local examples:

GreenScanner

You're walking through the grocery store, Web-enabled cell phone in hand. You wonder, is that gallon of organic milk really environmentally friendly?

Your cell phone can help answer that question, with information from greenscanner.net.

If you point your mobile browser to that site and type in the product code for Horizon Organic 1% Milk (UPC Code 742365264108), you'll tap into a database of environmentally focused consumer comments. For Horizon 1% milk, the overall rating is fairly good – 3.57 out of 5 – based on comments such as "better for people and cows too – fewer pesticides, etc." and "Locally-grown food is the best way to go."

The system still has many shortcomings, starting with its cumbersome requirement for entering UPC codes. In the future, consumers may be able to access GreenScanner data by taking a cell-phone photo of a product's bar code.

Another of the system's drawback is that only a few products are currently included in the database. (Got milk already? You can also try Poland Springs water with UPC Code 075720008513.)

GreenScanner's author, Bill Tomlinson, assistant professor in the Department of Informatics at UCI, says the quality and quantity of the ratings will improve as more people get involved.

Local.com

Irvine's tiny challenger to the Google juggernaut has a mobile-friendly version of its own geographic search engine.

If you point your Web browser to mobile.local.com and try it out, you may be surprised at how well this product of 60-person Local.com compares to local search results generated by 10,000-person Google.

Local.com starts off with the simplest of home pages, asking merely "What?" and "Where?" In contrast, mobile.google.com slows down the search process by first offering a list of alternatives, such as downloading maps or checking the latest news.

To see which version you prefer, I suggest that you put both Google and Local.com through their paces. The trick I asked them to perform was to search for "sausages" near the 92701 ZIP code in Santa Ana.

Both told me of many sausage companies and restaurants, with little overlap between the two lists. True to its name, Local.com produced more local results. Google's first 10 included sites from City of Industry and Chino.

Google also listed Pan American Bank under "sausages." Huh?

That's apparently because the bank once made a small-business loan to a sausage company, a fact that confused Google's computers.

Both programs display maps and directions and let you call directly from your cell phone.

If you want more than a geographic search, Google is the one for you. It shows pictures of sausages, a Wikipedia history of sausages, text ads for sausage companies, a culinary thesaurus ("snags," "bangers," etc.) and news about sausages ("Monster Pig is Larger than Hogzilla and Could Yield 700 Sausages.")

Ask Me Now

Another small company in Irvine specializes in searching computer databases for trivia answers, sports scores and dictionary definitions.

AskMeNow Inc., with 112 employees, charges 25 cents for each time it answers a question sent by text message from a cell phone. I include it in this listing of free local cell-phone services because the company has a free 30-day introductory offer.

To get started, text a question to 27563. Among its recent queries have been "Who is the model with the most Cosmopolitan magazine covers?" (Cindy Crawford, with 17) and "Why is the sky blue?" (The atmosphere scatters blue light 10 times more than red light.)

It balked when I asked for top-rated sausage restaurants near Santa Ana. "Sorry. We couldn't get the answer from our partners' databases. Try asking us for 411, sports scores, weather or trivia!" it responded

AskMeNow will soon be able to do more cell-phone trivia tricks. It has started working with the Wikipedia online encyclopedia to make that content available to questioners.

[topbasher]

wenn ich mir den schrott FUSA (FSAC.OB)anschaue marcetcap 55 million$

Local.com nur 37 millionen$

LOCM ist ein klares Strong buy

[sisqu]

interessant!!!!

[felici]

nach posting #2
und den patent news!
bin ich heute eingestiegen!


grüße

[icemen]

[scopus]

http://internet.seekingalpha.com/article/39741

Could Local.com Become the Local Search Industry's Qualcomm?
Posted on Jun 29th, 2007 with stocks: GOOG, LOCM, YHOO

John Gilliam submits: Qualcomm (QCOM) has long been envied for its stable of wireless patents that allow it to essentially just sit and collect license or royalty fees. That model is tough to beat - while there is expense in establishing and defending the patents, there is little to no overhead, capital or risk once agreements are in place with end users. From that point forward, QCOM essentially is a toll booth keeper for the wireless telecom companies, nearly all of whom must pass over their bridge. These “tolls” translated to $636 million in EBITDA for QCOM in the quarter ended March 31.

In the online search market, there may be a company that is now positioned to profit handsomely from a similar model. With very little fanfare, micro cap search upstart Local.com announced this week that the US Patent and Trademark office has granted patent #7,231,405 for the process of indexing and retrieving web-related information by geographical location. That the news was not on the front page of the Wall Street Journal is not all that surprising, very few happenings related to companies with such a small market cap get the attention of Wall Street commentators or analysts. However, I think the situation at Local.com bears watching and could turn into a very interesting story.

The patent covers local search technology related to identifying location information from web documents, indexing that information and making it searchable geographically. That is a very broad patent that seems to encompass what the major players in search are already doing with their local search applications. This seemingly opens the door to a tremendous opportunity for Local.com. The breadth of this patent is pretty striking in that it seems to covers much of what Google, Yahoo, AskCity, Verizon, Infospace etc. already do. Though I recognize that QCOM is in a completely different sector with different economics, I thought the similarities in the breadth of their patents in the context of the wireless industry made a good analogy with the untested but seemingly very broad reach of LOCM’s patent when viewed in the context of local search. The other big patent dispute in the search arena would have been an interesting case study, but it never made it to trial. Goto.com (later changed to Overture, then Yahoo Search Marketing) invented the pay per click business and patented many aspects required to execute the model. When Google came along (also Findwhat/Miva and others) and developed a better mousetrap that built on some of Overture’s patents, they wisely agreed to settle the matter out of court in recognition it would be very difficult to prevail in the lawsuit filed against them by Overture’s new parent company (Yahoo). Rather than fight a losing cause vs. a competitor with very deep pockets, Google paid Yahoo a settlement fee in the $300 million range. Miva/Findwhat.com, who was only marginally profitable with the pay per click model, took a similar tack in settling for $8 million plus undisclosed license fees going forward.

While neither QCOM nor the Overture scenario are precisely on point, both give good insight into what we may see happen with LOCM. While the local search industry is in its infancy and is not monetized to the degree we see in the wireless sector, the QCOM situation gives an idea of what kind of revenue can be earned when a company owns patents broad enough to touch just about anything done to monetize that space. The Overture scenario is closer to the heart of the matter in that it deals with search, but I would submit to you that LOCM could be in for much higher compensation than Overture received. First of all, Google had just turned the corner on profitability when it settled. It was pre IPO and Google had all the promise in the world, but nothing like the $12 billion cash hoard of today, not to mention its gargantuan $165 billion market cap. Further, the monetization of search was in its early stages and $300 million seemed like a very large amount at that time. Keep in mind that this was before Google had shown the world how much could be made from search. The investment we have seen from the big players in search since that time and particularly in local search suggests that all appreciate its potential. Thus, it is conceivable that all of the big players would be willing to pay to play if required to do so. If that happens, they all have a lot more to play with now.

The timing of this patent grant is interesting, as a suit alleging that Verizon has infringed on another very broad search patent has just been allowed to proceed to the discovery phase in US District Court in Texas. The owner of the patent, the UK based Geomas, is apparently seeking to establish its right to receive licensing fees from all the major players in search.

Sources have indicated that Geomas may find this to be a fairly tough battle due to the fact that its patent application was filed in the mid 90’s before internet search was as common as it is today. In fact, many of the biggest players in search today cite the Geomas owned patent as prior art in their own filings. Further, defendants in the Geomas suit can take the position that Geomas has never developed a working technology based on this patent, as they are primarily an entity that owns intellectual property and they have little in the way of actual operations. Should LOCM decide to follow in the steps of Geomas and go the litigation route, they have a much better set of facts. The timing (this week) of the patent grant and the elaborate technology platform already in use will diffuse any defendant’s attempt to use the two most promising defenses Verizon will have to the Geomas claims.

A key question is whether LOCM can afford to take on some of the industry’s deepest pockets. LOCM does have a pretty stellar balance sheet for such a small company. It is very rare for a company with a $35 million market cap to have $10 million + in the bank, but LOCM does. With only a very small debt load that leaves its net cash approaching $9 million, it does appear that LOCM could go that route, possibly long enough to extract a significant enough sized settlement that could allow them more resources for litigation against the others. The better question is whether that is the best route to take, as LOCM shareholders might not be patient enough for that approach. Considering the recent flurry of deals among the search elite, they may not have to. As we see more and more deals with ever higher price tags, it would come as no surprise if Google, Yahoo or MSN ponied up to buy LOCM.

With the potential for the local search pie to exceed $10 billion in a few years by many industry watcher‘s estimates, why would Google or Yahoo sign up to pay $10 - $20 million or so per year or pay royalty fees per transaction that could push it to three or four times that level when they might be able to buy the company outright for $100 million or so? With LOCM’s current cash adjusted market cap around $25 million, who is to say that they couldn’t pick it up even cheaper - maybe for what could ultimately amount to a couple of years worth of royalty fees? That case is quite compelling when you consider that not only would they be avoiding the royalty fees for years to come, but they can then determine what their competitors will pay as royalty fees.

The type of one-upmanship we have seen with other recent acquisitions by the big search players’ (i.e. Google/Doubleclick, Microsoft/Aquantive) recent takeovers suggests to me that a bidding war for LOCM could even materialize. If Microsoft were willing to pay $6 Billion to purchase Aquantive just a few weeks after Google outbid them for DoubleClick - what would either of them pay to own a local search patent that could be used to extract payments of $100 million or more per year from the others? According to various industry sources, the market for online ad spending for local search placements is expected to rise to between $10 - $13 billion annually by 2010.

At last count, Google and Yahoo each command about one third of this market, with MSN , AOL, Ask.com and several yellow page providers taking most of the remaining third. Using the conservative end of those estimates with a total market spend of $10 billion - If Google still controls 1/3 of that market, that would make their annual take about $3.3 billion. What kind of license fee would Google be willing to pay if they were threatened with an injunction that could all but shut down a $3.3 billion revenue per year enterprise? $300 million like they paid Overture? Maybe or maybe not. To spread the risk, suppose instead that they just paid LOCM per transaction (click), some nominal fee like 2% of the revenue. In such a scenario, LOCM would be earning $66 million per year in license fees from Google, with similar arrangements with the other big players in the local search space. Even at just 1% of Google’s estimated local search revenue - that would be around $33 million per year, or about 30% higher than the total existing cash/debt adjusted market cap for LOCM. It is the juxtaposition of that kind of fee revenue vs. the current market cap that requires some serious attention.

So how will this play out? Will LOCM get $10 - $20 million per quarter from each of the search players? Will they get 2-5% of local click revenue from each, possibly resulting in even higher quarterly fee revenue? Or will they sell out for $100 - $150 million and let a bigger player with more resources work this patent for even bigger license fees?

Hard to say at this stage, but one thing is certain - existing shareholders who bought the stock near its current range will likely be very pleased with where this story is headed. While LOCM may never receive the $2 billion + per year that QCOM receives in royalty payments, the prospect of earning even $100 million in royalties per year looks pretty good when you have a total market cap of less than half that.

Disclosure: Author is long LOCM

[scopus]

+25%

[scopus]

http://blogs.ocregister.com/morningeye/archives/2007/06/loca…

June 29, 2007
Local.com soars on hopes that new patent's value is multi-millions

Geographically focused Internet search company Local.com of Irvine saw its shares soar 76 percent today as news spread about the new patent for its search technology.

Investors speculated that the patent could lead to huge royalty revenues from other Internet search companies or the acquisition of Local.com by one of them.

Local.com announced Monday that it "has been awarded patent number 7,231,405 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the process of indexing and retrieving web-related information by geographical location."

Heath Clarke, the company's chairman, co-founder and chief executive, said the patent covers "methods (that) have subsequently become the de-facto standard for information retrieval in the local search industry."


"We encourage other local search companies that are interested in using our intellectual property to enter into licensing agreements with Local.com," he said.

Local.com shares had remained basically unchanged after that announcement, closing Thursday at $3.94. On Friday, they ended the day at $6.92. More than 8 million shares changed hands, which compares to 34,435 on an average day.

What changed was that early today the "Seeking Alpha" investment commentary site published a piece that pondered, "Could Local.com become the Local Search Industry's Qualcomm?"

In it, author John Gilliam suggested that just as the patents of communications-chip maker Qualcomm of San Diego allow it to "essentially just sit and collect license or royalty fees," so too Local.com's new patent might make it "a company that is now positioned to profit handsomely from a similar model."

"The breadth of this patent is pretty striking in that it seems to covers much of what Google, Yahoo, AskCity, Verizon, Infospace etc. already do," he wrote.

What should be the next move for Local.com? Gilliam suggested:

"A key question is whether (Local.com, with ticker symbol LOCM) can afford to take on some of the industry’s deepest pockets. LOCM does have a pretty stellar balance sheet for such a small company. It is very rare for a company with a $35 million market cap to have $10 million + in the bank, but LOCM does.
"With only a very small debt load that leaves its net cash approaching $9 million, it does appear that LOCM could go that route, possibly long enough to extract a significant enough sized settlement that could allow them more resources for litigation against the others. The better question is whether that is the best route to take, as LOCM shareholders might not be patient enough for that approach.

"Considering the recent flurry of deals among the search elite, they may not have to. As we see more and more deals with ever higher price tags, it would come as no surprise if Google, Yahoo or MSN ponied up to buy LOCM."


That was the speculation that sent the stock soaring.

Posted by Colin Stewart at June 29, 2007 01:03 PM

[scopus]

NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Local.com Granted U.S. Patent Number 7,200,413 for Ad-Supported 411 Local Search Model
Monday July 2, 7:00 am ET


Free Enhanced Directory Assistance Supported by Referral Advertising Revenues


IRVINE, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Jul 2, 2007 -- Local.com Corporation (NasdaqCM:LOCM - News), a leading local search engine, today announced that the company has been awarded patent number 7,200,413 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the method of responding to enhanced directory assistance inquiries using various protocols including voice-enabled and SMS systems. The patent also covers an associated referral advertising model, which is designed to monetize those local searches.
ADVERTISEMENT





The patent covers a system and method for providing businesses with referral advertising opportunities (such as pay-per-click or pay-per-call) utilizing directory assistance and wireless messaging systems. The model enables businesses to receive search leads on a pay-per-referral basis when their listings are included in a set of search results provided to consumers as a result of an enhanced directory assistance inquiry. The results are delivered to consumers via operator assisted calls, messaging systems such as SMS, WAP, automated voice-enabled systems, or any combination of these. Advertiser listings in this model can be organized by location, referral amount paid, and keyword association.

"In our view, the burgeoning free 411 marketplace is being underwritten by a variety of advertising supported models. Our patent 7,200,413 is directly related to a referral advertising model such as pay-per-click or pay-per-call listings, which are delivered to consumers as a result of an enhanced directory assistance inquiry or local search, where the results can be provided to consumers via many mobile channels, including voice," said Heath Clarke, Chairman and CEO, Local.com.

"Our recently announced patent 7,231,405 was related to the methods used to deliver our highly relevant organic search results. Patent number 7,200,413 is complementary to our local search patent in that it provides us with intellectual property coverage for what's now a widely accepted monetization method -- pay-per-referral -- within the directory assistance marketplace. Local.com believes that ad-supported directory assistance is the future of 411 services in the U.S., and we look forward to working with a variety of companies to deliver innovative new products and services to the marketplace," continued Clarke. "We encourage directory assistance and free 411 companies that are interested in using our intellectual property to enter into licensing agreements with Local.com."

To experience Local.com go to: http://www.local.com.

About Local.com

Local.com (NasdaqCM:LOCM - News) is a Top U.S. website attracting approximately 10 million visitors each month seeking information on local businesses, products, services, people and jobs. Powered by the company's patent-pending Keyword DNA® and patented local web indexing technologies, Local.com provides users with targeted, relevant local search results, including special offers from local businesses, user reviews, local businesses' website links, maps, driving directions and more. Businesses can advertise on Local.com with subscription, pay-per-click, banner and pay-per-call ad products. The site's mobile service, Local Mobile provides local search results via mobile phones and devices. Local.com claims U.S. patent numbers 7,231,405 and 7,200,413. For more information visit: www.local.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this document regarding our anticipated financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of our management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this report, words such as 'anticipate,' 'believe,' 'estimate,' 'plans,' 'expect,' 'intend' and similar expressions, as they relate to Local.com or our management, identify forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to our management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including, but not limited to, our ability to monetize the Local.com domain, incorporate our local-search technologies, market the Local.com domain as a destination for consumers seeking local-search results, grow our business by enhancing our local-search services, expand our Advertiser and Distribution Networks, expand internationally, integrate and effectively utilize our acquisitions' technologies, develop our products and sales, marketing, finance and administrative functions and successfully integrate our expanded infrastructure, as well as our dependence on major advertisers, competitive factors and pricing pressures, changes in legal and regulatory requirements, and general economic conditions. Any forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this paragraph.

Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Form 8-K, and other Securities and Exchange Commission filings discuss the foregoing risks as well as other important risk factors that could contribute to such differences or otherwise affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. The forward-looking statements in this release speak only as of the date they are made. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason.



Contact:
Media Contacts:

Cameron Triebwasser
Local.com
949-789-5223
949-233-4480
Email Contact

Dan Chmielewski
Madison Alexander PR
714-832-8716
949-231-2965
Email Contact

Investor Relations Contact:

John Baldissera
BPC Financial Marketing
800-368-1217



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Local.com