Vringo remains confident as an Oct. 16 trial approaches...

Google’s motion for summary judgment, setting the stage for what is expected to be a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Raymond Jackson in Norfolk, Va. Vringo entered the fray in acquiring Innovate Protect, which controlled eight Lycos search patents granted in the late 1990s and early 2000s, two of which are at the heart of the Google case. The patents, which Lycos acquired form inventor Ken Lang, cover a means for organizing how a search engine ranks and displays results for a search request. Central to the process are “clicks,” with more clicks making one site more relevant than others to a search. Lycos sold the patents to Innovate Protect, which in turn sold them to Vringo earlier this year. In a suit filed last year, Vringo alleges that Google’s AdWords and AdSense platforms violate the patents and is seeking damages dating from 2007 and royalties going forward. “We feel good that we will win,” Perlman said. AOL settled a separate infringement suit filed against it for $100,000, relating to violations that occurred before it adopted the Google platform, Perlman said. Google invested $1 billion in AOL in 2005 and a development agreement between the companies was extended in 2010. AOL is a defendant in the Google case. Since the Google case began, legal expenses have been in the “mid-single digit millions” of dollars, Perlman said. In addition to the Lycos IP, Vringo also recently acquired more than 500 patents related to 3G, 4G and LTE cellular technology from Nokia, 25 percent of which are considered “essential,” Perlman said. The portfolio includes 432 issued patents and 75 applications, Perlman said. There are 126 U.S. patents and 42 in China, he said. Vringo bought the IP for $22 million using part of the $31.2 million it raised earlier this year in issuing 9.6 million shares to three unidentified investors. The agreement also requires Vringo to pay a 35 percent royalty on patent-related gross revenues of more than $22 million. Some of the Nokia IP relates to patents considered “essential” for GSM/GPRS infrastructure equipment and mobile stations that comply with European Telecommunications Standards Institute specifications. In light of those patents, Vringo sent a letter to ZTE, maintaining the Chinese equipment supplier didn’t have a license despite supplying GSM/GPRS infrastructure gear since 2002, the company said in an SEC filing. ZTE officials weren’t available for comment. While much of its focus is shifting to IP, Vringo also continues to market free and subscription-based video ringtones as well as Facetones, an automated video slideshow that uses friends’ photos from social media websites, primarily Facebook. Facetones has gained 1.5 million downloads and will be preloaded on Nokia’s Series 40 phones due in Q4. Verizon sells Facetones through its app store for 99 cents, but that represents a small percentage of the downloads, Perlman said. Vringo has 227,000 subscribers to its video ringtone service across seven carriers, the largest being 38,000 with Orange U.K., which launched them in February 2011, Vringo said in an SEC filing.