Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P. and Costco Wholesale Corporation Enter into License Agreement

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P., headquartered in Los Angeles, announced today the settlement of patent litigation with Costco Wholesale Corporation, based in Issaquah, Washington. As part of the settlement, Costco has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum for a nonexclusive license under a comprehensive portfolio of patents that Katz owns relating to interactive voice applications.

The nonexclusive license covers services offered by Costco Wholesale Corporation in the "Automated Health Care Services" Field-of-Use, including customer service provided via automated systems and live agents. Other terms of the license were not disclosed.

The patents held by Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P. cover a wide range of interactive technology including automated forms of: customer service, prescription refill services, securities trading, merchandising, prepaid services, telephone conferences, registration, home shopping, as well as functions involved in securing information from databases by telephone, interactive cable transactions, and various other uses of toll free and local numbers.

Ronald A. Katz, chief executive of Ronald A. Katz Technology Licensing, L.P. stated, “We are very pleased to welcome Costco Wholesale Corp. to the large number of companies who have purchased license rights under this portfolio.”

There are over 275 companies with license rights under this portfolio, including over 45 energy and utility companies. Companies with license rights under this portfolio include: Advanta Corp., Alltel Corporation, American Century, American Express, American International Group, Inc., Amtrak, AT&T Inc., Avis Budget Group, Inc., Avon Products, Inc., Bank of America Corporation, Capital One Services Inc., Chevron U.S.A. Inc., Comerica Inc., Continental Airlines, Dell Inc., Delta Air Lines, Inc., Discover Financial Services, Edward D. Jones & Co., Experian, Express Scripts, Exxon Mobil Corp., First Data Corporation, FirstMerit Corporation, The Gallup Organization, The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Household International, Inc., HSBC Bank USA, ING North America Insurance Corp., International Business Machines (IBM), Kaiser Permanente Insurance Co., KeyCorp, Kohl's Corporation, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, MCI Inc., Mellon Financial Corporation, Merck & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., Metris Companies Inc., Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, New York Life Insurance Company, OppenheimerFunds, Inc., Premier Global Services, Inc., Principal Financial Group, Inc., Prudential Financial, Inc., Qwest Communications International Inc., QVC, Inc., Regions Financial Corporation, Safeway Inc., Sears, Roebuck and Co., ShopKo Stores, Sprint Corporation, Sunoco, Inc., SUPERVALU Inc., TD Banknorth Inc., T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc., T-Mobile USA, United Air Lines, Inc., Verizon California Inc., Wachovia Corporation, Walgreen Co., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, Webster Financial Corporation, WellPoint, Inc., Wells Fargo & Company, West Corporation, Wilmington Trust Corporation and Zions Bancorporation.

Mr. Katz is the named inventor on a large number of patents primarily in the fields of telecommunications and computing. He also formed Telecredit, Inc., the nation’s first on-line real time credit and check cashing authorization system, and was awarded a patent as co-inventor of that technology.

Costco Wholesale Corporation based in Issaquah, WA operates an international chain of membership warehouses with more than 51 million members. Their 391 U.S. outlets employ more than 100,000 people.