B&N Has Until Aug. 9 to Respond to ADREA Patent Suit, Retailer Says
Barnes & Noble didn’t immediately comment on a Nook-related patent infringement lawsuit that was filed in U.S. District Court in New York by ADREA, which says on its website it was “created to advocate for electronic reading and the evolution of electronic books, and to promote literacy.” The retailer listed the suit in a 10-K filing at the SEC Monday, but didn’t comment on the claims by ADREA, which filed the complaint June 14. B&N and its barnesandnoble.com and Nook Media divisions were named as defendants. B&N has until Aug. 9 to respond to the complaint, it said.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
ADREA claimed that various Nook devices and related online services infringed U.S. Patent Nos. 7,298,851, entitled “Electronic Book Security and Copyright Protection System”; 7,299,501, “Electronic Book Selection and Delivery System Having Encryption and Security Features”; and 7,620,703, “Topical Service Provides Context Information for a Home Network."
B&N made no mention in the 10-K of the patent infringement suit that was filed against it, Amazon, E Ink and Sony July 12 in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del., by Woodbury, N.Y., company Research Frontiers. All the defendants declined to comment on that suit Friday. Technology Properties Ltd. (TPL) filed a Nook-related patent infringement suit against B&N in California last year. B&N and TPL on Sept. 21 filed a stipulation agreeing to stay the action pending final resolution of a complaint that TPL filed with the International Trade Commission last year. The administrative law judge is scheduled to issue his final initial determination in that case Sept. 6 and the target date for the ITC’s resolution of the investigation is Jan. 6, 2014, said B&N.
Also in the 10-K, B&N said it had about 28,000 full- and part-time employees in its retail division, about 5,100 full- and part-time employees in its B&N College division, and about 750 full-time employees in its Nook division April 27. A year earlier, it had about 30,000 retail, about 4,750 B&N College and about 533 Nook employees, it said.
B&N also restated its financial results for the quarters ended Jan. 26, Oct. 27 and July 28, 2012, and the fiscal year ended April 28, 2012 due to “a material error” in them, it said in an 8-K filing at the SEC Monday. For Q3 ended Jan. 26, its loss was actually $3.7 million instead of the $6.1 million it reported in late February, said B&N. Shares in B&N closed 4.6 percent lower Monday at $17.56.