Firepond Licensing Business Heats Up
After just a month, Firepond's licensing program is paying dividends.
The Minneapolis maker of customer service and e-commerce software said it has licensed three patents to eGain, a provider of call center software.
Financial terms of the transaction, which include technology used in Firepond's Brightware offering, were not disclosed.
“Firepond is pleased to add eGain to our growing list of companies who have chosen to take advantage of our technology,” said John Hogie, vice president of Firepond's Brightware division.
In recent months, Firepond sued several competitors for allegedly infringing on its intellectual property.
“Firepond is committed to protecting the value it has created over the past 20 years and realizes the potential value our patents can provide other solution providers,” said David Pridham, Firepond's director of intellectual property.
There are about a dozen patents that can be licensed, including several for computer-assisted selling applications.
Sunnyvale, Calif-based eGain's software is used by more than 800 corporate customers in 18 countries. Its software suite includes customer e-mail management, live Web collaboration, call tracking and Web self-service, among other features.
