| Former type | Research think tank |
|---|---|
| Industry | Research and Development |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Founded | 1992 |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Palo Alto |
| Key people | Paul Allen (Chairman) David Liddle (CEO, President) |
| Employees | More than 110[1] |
|
Interval Research Corporation was founded in 1992 by Paul Allen and David Liddle, computer industry veterans. It was a Palo Alto laboratory and technology incubator focusing on consumer product applications and services with a focus on the Internet.[2]
A 1997 version of the company's web page described itself as "a research setting seeking to define the issues, map out the concepts and create the technology that will be important in the future.... [pursuing] basic innovations in a number of early-stage technologies and [seeking] to foster industries around them -- sparking opportunity for entrepreneurs and highlighting a new approach to research.".[3] A 1999 Wired Magazine article based on a memo from Paul Allen described the company as under fire from Allen to produce "less R and more D."[4] Interval Research Corporation officially closed its doors in April 2000, while a small group of former employees were kept on to form Interval Media to continue a few specific projects. Interval Media was closed in June, 2006. As of June 2008, the interval.com domain registration was maintained by Digeo, another Paul Allen company.
During its brief existence, Interval employed many well-known computer technology pioneers, including:
Interval Research was issued approximately 130 US patents.[5] Four of its patents, now owned by Allen's Interval Licensing LLC, are the subject of a patent infringement lawsuit Interval Licensing filed in August 2010 against AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo!, and YouTube (but not Microsoft):[1][6]
The lawsuit also points out that Interval Research was credited by Google in 1998 as an "outside collaborator" and one of the companies that funded research by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page that resulted in Google.[1] On Mar. 3, 2011, Article One Partners announced that one of the patents held by Interval Licensing would be posted to their online community to utilize Public participation in patent examination. The patent in question was U.S. Patent No. 6,263,507, defined as "Browser for Use in Navigating a Body of Information, With Particular Application to Browsing Information Represented By Audiovisual Data."[7]