Breaking News: Kenexa Sues Taleo
On Monday, Kenexa filed a lawsuit against Taleo for patent infringement. According to the San Jose Mercury News…
A unit of Kenexa Corp., a provider of employee recruitment and hiring services, accused rival Taleo Corp. of Dublin of infringing two patents for data-entry methods using the Internet.
Kenexa BrassRing Inc., based in Wayne, Pa., contends Taleo is wrongly making and selling products that use inventions patented in 1999 and 2006, according to papers filed Monday
A Taleo spokesman, didn’t immediately return phone and e-mail messages seeking comment on the lawsuit.
I have not reviewed the lawsuit but a copy of the filing can be found online at Justia.com (call me cheap…I’m not willing to spend the $.08/page to download.).
This is not the first time another vendor has sued Taleo. Back in 2002, Bernard Hodes Group filed a lawsuit against Taleo for, among other things, breach of contract. Taleo counter-sued but the lawsuit was settled two years later.
Patent infringement is a serious claim, though. I imagine we will see a statement from Taleo soon saying the will “vigorously defend itself against these outrageous claims”. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Taleo countersuited Kenexa.
As a friend of mine stated, “the mudslinging continues”…
Technorati Tags: Kenexa, Taleo, lawsuit, recruitment, HCM applications, talent management
5 Comments Add your own
1. Martin Snyder | August 31st, 2007 at 8:27 am
I found this on Google Patent Search
http://www.google.com/patents?id=CMWAAAAAEBAJ&dq=brassring
You gotta be kidding me- this was approved July 31, 2007 for a 2004 filing. Talk about prior art ?
If Kenexa goes into business as a patent troll, they will likely regret it - see ex. SCO Linux claims et al.
Sooner or later Kenexa may start dropping lawsuits or demanding royalties from all kinds of ATS companies- at least until one stands up and proves a worthless patent for what it is.
The novel “ideas” which Kenexa claims deserve protection are the basic transactions of every serious ATS system since the middle ’90’s, at least.
This one should be interesting.
2. Jonathan Duarte | September 5th, 2007 at 8:21 am
Boy this will be interesting. This Patent is a total joke. I’m not only suprised that it was issued, but that Kenexa really thinks they have a case against Taleo… I’m sure that Monster, CareerBuilder, HotJobs, and just about any ATS can be considered as Prior Art for this defense.
3. The Human Capitalist &raq&hellip | September 7th, 2007 at 5:43 am
[…] finally had a chance to review Kenexa’s claim against Taleo. In question is Patent #5,999,939 and the history of this patent is quite […]
4. A Resume Cut And Paste Pa&hellip | September 26th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
[…] a company called Kenexa (they make BrassRing and are based in Wayne, PA) is wielding this patent (more details here) in the war on talent (if you have ever had to interact with products from these big applicant […]
5. A former BrassRing employee | September 30th, 2007 at 5:57 pm
Check out http://www.trenchmice.com/scoop/305/kenexa-ruins-brassring-after-acquisition-resorts-to-patent-lawsuits/.
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