INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
RetailMeNot is suing rival Honey over patent infringement, the company announcedthis week
Honey is the maker of a deal-finding browser extension that helps consumers shopping online get the best price by automatically applying
It also helps with finding the best price on Amazon purchases, doles out digital coupons, offers cash back, helps you track price drops, and
more.
According to RetailMeNot suit, Honey infringes on U.S
Patent9,626,688; 9,639,853; 9,953,335; and 9,965,769, which detail technologies related to things like facilitating access to promotional
offers, merchant offers, and coupon codes.
&These valuable patents protect RetailMeNot pioneering developments in computer-related
technologies, and Honey unauthorized use of them enables key features of Honey website and browser extensions,& RetailMeNot stated in a
press release about the lawsuit, which is how Honey first heard the news.
The suit comes at a time when Honey is growing in popularity among
online shoppers, while RetailMeNot is getting a bit long in the tooth
The latter has been around since 2006, while L.A.-based Honey was founded in 2012, and is backed by over $40 million in funding, according
It had a reported 5 million monthly active users as of last fall, and said users were saving an average of $32 per month with its
help.
Honey has also dabbled with expanding its deal-finding efforts to other verticals, including as of last year, travel.
Meanwhile,
RetailMeNot, a subsidiary of Harland Clarke Holdings, claims $4.8 billion in retailer sales were attributable to consumer transactions from
paid digital offers in its marketplace last year, with over $560 million which were attributable to its in-store solution
(The company operates a number of websites, including RetailMeNot.com in the U.S
and .ca in Canada, plusVoucherCodes.co.uk in theUnited Kingdom; ma-reduc.com and Poulpeo.com inFrance; and GiftCardZen.com and Deals2Buy.com
inNorth America.)
Reached for comment, Honey called the lawsuit &baseless.&
&We were disappointed to learn of this lawsuit from a press
release and are in the process of reviewing the documents with our legal counsel,& said Honey spokesperson,Kelly Parisi, VP, Communications
&The lawsuit is baseless and the claims are irrelevant to how consumers use and experience our services
It unfortunate that they&ve taken this tactic to try to thwart innovation that helps consumers save time and money when shopping online.&
