Free Flight Planner Website Founder Fears Financial Ruin

News and Analysis By Jim Campbell, ANN CEO/Editor-In-Chief (NOT A Lawyer... And Have NEVER Played One On TV)

ANN has just learned that the FlightPrep v RunwayFinder legal skirmish appears to have come to a bad end. RunwayFinder.com Founder, Dave Parsons, notified ANN via an email link to his blog update (responding to our request) that he had shut the site down fearing the consequences of an aggressive legal action he was ill-equipped to fight.

Parson noted that, "I was hoping to be able to work out an agreement with FlightPrep where the lawsuit against RunwayFinder would be withdrawn and the website could stay online in return for some free advertising and removal of this entire blog post. FlightPrep has instead decided to keep the lawsuit active, so unfortunately RunwayFinder must be shut down. FlightPrep has posted some sort of temporary license on their website instead of contacting me directly, but unfortunately does not provide relief from their claimed damages. From FlightPrep’s attorney’s letter of December 9th: 'While we appreciate your offer to shut down the website to stop future infringement, we notice that your website is still operation. And without further information from you, our only means to assess the potential damages is the observation that your website had 22,256 unique visitors in July 2010. Each visit represents a potential lost sale of our client’s patented invention at $149 per sale. This damage calculation exceeds $3.2 million per month in lost revenue.'”

Parsons added that, "Shutting down RunwayFinder is not an admission of infringement or validity of the FlightPrep patent."

Earlier, FlightPrep appeared to be attempting to mollify the uproar that had occurred when the lawsuit against RunwayFinder was made public. Condemnation from the aviation community towards FlightPrep was swift, aggressive and overtly negative. Regardless; FlightPrep eventually disclosed that, "Although we believe RunwayFinder infringes on our patent, we also believe it is in the best interests of pilots to have RunwayFinder as an operational website. Accordingly, we have offered to grant a free-license to RunwayFinder to operate its website during this negotiation phase our legal dispute. We are not asking RunwayFinder to shut down and in-fact are offering them a temporary free-pass at our technology in hopes that this gesture of goodwill will better enable both RunwayFinder and FlightPrep to constructively work toward a mutually beneficial long-term solution."

ANN is in possession of well over 300 pages of patent documentation and has only been able to look it over, in detail, for the better part of an hour thus far. To say that the matter is legally complicated is an understatement.... but the current scenario suggests that no matter the viability of the FlightPrep patent and IP, FlightPrep has taken an aggressive stance in protecting a patent that has broad and potentially "Over-Reaching" implications for the Flight Planning community... Additionally; numerous cites of web-based flight planners in existence prior to the 2001 patent do exist and when looking at both offerings (RunwayFinder and FlightPrep), one might call them similar in the way that a Piper Cub is similar to the SR-71 -- they both being airplanes with the ability to fly. So... those questioning the ultimate legal validity of the FlightPrep claim might have a point... if they wish to defend it in court.

ANN had some intriguing discussions with FlightPrep and their Patent Attorney on Monday. The FlightPrep patent allegedly dates back nearly a decade and went through a number of iterations and even prior refusals by the US Patent Office before finally gaining their approval with the issuance of Patent US 7,640,098 nearly a year ago.

While there is no question that any unique Intellectual Property has a number of rights and privileges, especially when protected by a patent, the story has the flavor of a David and Goliath encounter... with one wondering how a site that was based on original and unique code (RunwayFinder) presented a danger to FlightPrep's IP and the potential for 'millions' of dollars in damages. And we have to tell you that the claim that RunwayFinder's potential infringement was costing FlightPrep upwards of 3 millions bucks a month simply doesn't pass the smell test. Such a claim appears to be "over the top" -- even for the opening salvo in new litigation.

Regardless; ANN continues to research the story, its effects on the industry (as well as potential issues of flight safety), and reports of other possible victims (including one site that reportedly shut down when RunwayFinder was sued due to fear that they were 'next'). More info will follow...

FMI: www.runwayfinder.com, www.flightprep.com, http://images.flightprep.com/License/USPatent-7640098.pdf