SeeqPod bought by Intertrust
Intertrust has bought the assets of Seeqpod – the online search and recommendation engine. Since April 2009, SeeqPod ceased its service and has filed for bankruptcy but may now be resurrected by Intertrust. SeeqPod developed a web crawler that indexed playable search results across a wide variety of media including audio, video, podcasts and so on. SeeqPod was powered by an algorithm developed to aid biologists understand complex genetic connections called GenoPharm. This was adapted to enhance search by linking complex information in the same way the human brain might.
Now, Intertrust has announced that it has bought all software and patents produced by SeeqPod including the GenoPharm algorithm. This is nothing new for Intertrust who already hold over 150 patents in the US and over 300 worldwide but they plan to incorporate SeeqPod’s technology into search across many platforms. For example, Internet TV, targeted advertising, recommendation systems and e-music distribution are some of the potential uses for SeeqPod software.
Intertrust may also use the software in their existing digital rights management business as well in their other ventures like SyncTV and Beyond Oblivion. These in particular stand to benefit from SeeqPod technology. The new IPTV project also stands to benefit as Intertrust has been involved in Project Canvas and Marlin. Interestingly, it has been reported that Microsoft has bought a comprehensive license to the company for a rumoured one-time payment of US $440 million which means they may now be looking to incorporate the SeeqPod engine into their music offering.
