Maggio puts ErinMedia patents up for sale

Eight patents and five applications are on the block. Broadly, they relate to the use of set-top box data and other sources to produce TV ratings – the kind with which ErinMedia hoped to challenge Nielsen’s dominance in the TV measurement space five years ago.

Maggio even turned to the courts to try and break Nielsen’s hold on the market, but in the midst of the court case ErinMedia’s funding ran out, it laid off staff and shut down all activities save for licencing the patents Maggio is now looking to sell.

The court case was settled confidentially in 2008. Details of the patent auction are online here.