Portfolio still growing, but no offensive action yet — GoDaddy’s patent

Domain registrar continues to apply for patents but hasn’t gone on the offensive yet.

Will GoDaddy’s patent strategy change now that it has taken an investment from three private equity giants?

It’s an notable question for the domain name and web hosting industries since of the size of the firm’s patent war chest.

A search with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office shows 65 issued patents for The Go Daddy Group and close to 200 pending.

These patents cover a broad range of technologies and business processes, ranging from whois privacy services to domain name suggestion spinning and domain hijack protection.

But to date the firm hasn’t sued any competitors for patent infringement.

Karl Fazio, Associate General Counsel – Patents for Go Daddy told Reglike that might not change despite the fresh investment by KKR, Silver Lake and Technology Crossover Ventures.

“We do have plenty of patents in our portfolio that are powerful and could be monetized if we chose to do that,” he explained, but added that he’s not aware of any plans to go on the offense.

“The fresh partnership [investment] doesn’t change the fundamental principles of why you have a robust patent portfolio,” he stated.

The patent portfolio protects the firm’s products and gives it “room to operate”. A strong patent portfolio also discourages other firms from suing it for patent infringement.

One firm has tried. In 2006 Web.com sued Go Daddy for patent infringement. The settlement in 2009 included a cross-licensing agreement of the firms’ patent portfolios. The lawsuit was settled ahead of Web.com purchased both Register.com and Network Solutions.

Although Fazio is not aware of any plans to go on the offense, you shouldn’t expect the firm’s patent filing machine to slow down any time soon.

“As we are developing fresh products and services we intend to aggressively protect in the patent space our fresh technology,” stated Fazio.