online media sued by blackjack innovatork
Win or Lose?

Sheldon Goldberg, a well know innovator of online blackjack tournaments as well as a professional blackjack player is suing multiple largest US media companies for patent infringement.

Mr. Sheldon ‘Shel’ Goldberg, a retired attorney, was once known for cleaning out Las Vegas casino blackjack tournaments with a fusion of smart strategies, advantage plays and an almost extrasensory ability to know when the time is right to bet large and when it’s not.

He is an undisputed Blackjack Champ, who counts among his accolades the prestigious title of 1994 Tropicana $100,000 Winner-Take-All Blackjack Tournament Champion. In early 1996 he was the first person to run an online multi-table black jack tournament using patented software. Over the years, Mr. Goldberg accumulated an impressive collection of patents related to everything from network gaming to online advertising strategies.

Mr. Goldberg filed a lawsuit against 12 of the biggest American media conglomerates claiming patent infringement by the media’s use of his 1996 and 2000 patent covering Targeted Online Advertising. Targeted advertising provides advertisement banners, links and news to website visitors based on their prior online browsing habits.

Instead of wasting time displaying adds about a Christmas sale to a visitor who only reads articles about the Koran, that particular visitor will see advertisements from Muslim businesses.

Mr. Goldberg is currently suing Advance Publications, ALM Media, Amazon.com, American Media, Rodale, Scripps Interactive, Demand Media, Viacom, CNET, The Washington Post, Tribune Interactive, Digg.com and Village Voice Media.

Don’t be so hasty to write him off as a loon; because that’s one thing he definitely is not.

The fact that Google.com and The New York Times already settled out of court could mean that there is a strong case. Google has a warehouse full of litigators, and is not afraid to use them as a means of deterrent to frivolous lawsuits by forcing the losing parties to pay the winner’s legal costs. Yet Google hastily settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

We will be keeping an eye out on Mr. Goldberg, who will always have a place in blackjack history as one of the original innovators of online blackjack tournaments.