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NOTE 8 - COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2016
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]  
Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Text Block]
NOTE 8 – COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES

Litigation

On July 31, 2012, the Company filed suit against Groupon, Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas in Civil Action No. 6:12-cv-00486. The Company filed additional suits against IZEA, Inc. on October 17, 2012, Yelp, Inc. on October 17, 2012, and Foursquare Labs, Inc. on October 31, 2012 in Civil Action Nos. 6:12-cv-786, 6:12-cv-788, 6:12-cv-837, respectively. Each of these cases alleges that the defendants infringed U.S. Patent Nos. 7,664,516 entitled “Method and System for Peer-to-Peer Advertising Between Mobile Communication Devices” and 8,155,679 entitled “System and Method for Peer-to-Peer Advertising Between Mobile Communication Devices.” The Company subsequently added U.S. Patent Nos. 8,438,055, 8,452,646, and 8,457,670 to the cases, alleging each defendant infringed the newly added patents. Each of the defendants answered, denying infringement and claiming that the asserted patents were invalid. Groupon, Yelp, and Foursquare filed counterclaims for declaratory judgment that the asserted patents were invalid and not infringed.

The Company entered into settlements with IZEA and Yelp during August 2015 and September 2015, respectively.  The terms of the associated settlements are confidential in nature.

During June 2016, the Company entered into a settlement agreement with Groupon pursuant to which it has in principal settled all outstanding litigation with Groupon.  The terms of the settlement are confidential.

During July 2016, the Company entered into a settlement agreement with Foursquare pursuant to which it has in principle settled all outstanding litigation with Foursquare.  The terms of the settlement are confidential.

On July 8, 2016, the Company filed a Notice of Opposition at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board against T. Scott Pernici to prevent registration of the trademark “DASH TAG” because of the potential to create a likelihood of confusion in the marketplace.  The deadline for Pernici to file an Answer to the Notice is November 16, 2016.

The court dockets for each case, including the parties’ briefs are publicly available on the Public Access to Court Electronic Records website, or PACER, www.pacer.gov, which is operated by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.

The Board dockets for each case are publicly available on the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board Inquiry System, or TTABVUE, http://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v, which is operated by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Other than as noted above, the Company is not a party to any pending legal proceeding nor is its property the subject of any pending legal proceeding that is not in the ordinary course of business or otherwise material to the financial condition of its business. Further, to the knowledge of management, no director or executive officer is party to any action in which any has an interest adverse to us.