| MyFonts Awarded U.S.
Patent CAMBRIDGE, MASS — May 9, 2005 — MyFonts, a subsidiary of Bitstream Inc. (NASDAQ: BITS), and the leading provider of the world's fonts available from one easy-to-use website, announced today that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded a patent for MyFonts' system for selecting and distributing fonts in conjunction with its e-commerce system. MyFonts was awarded the patent, number U.S. 6,853,980 B1, for specific technology underlying the MyFonts website that: • enables users to find a font having a particular look or particular features • enables users to upload an image of a font or font shapes • displays fonts on the MyFonts website that most closely match ("pattern match") the font or image the user is searching for • allows users to purchase and download the matching font MyFonts technology relies on computerized systems to organize fonts in such a way that visitors to the MyFonts website (www.myfonts.com) will be able to find a font similar to the one they're searching for, as accessed through the "More Fonts Like This" feature and through keyword searches. The "More Fonts Like This" feature, located on Font Family pages, enables site visitors to display a list of fonts that are similar to the fonts in the Font Family, with the best matches listed first. The keyword search allows site visitors to enter any words that describe a font they're looking for - in everyday language. It is developed for site visitors who do not have a specific font name, typeface designer, or foundry in mind. MyFonts technology also relies on computerized pattern matching for fonts, as accessed through the "WhatTheFont" feature. WhatTheFont is for users who have found a font they like in a book, magazine, newspaper, etc., but don't know its name. WhatTheFont accepts image files of fonts uploaded by users, analyzes the images, and then displays the fonts on the MyFonts site that most closely match the font shapes captured in the image. "MyFonts was founded on our unique technology for searching, selecting, distributing, and selling fonts. 'More Fonts Like This' is our most popular feature, and the accuracy of our 'WhatTheFont' results is unprecedented by previous automatic systems," stated John Collins, Chief Technology Officer and Vice-President of MyFonts. "Receiving this patent is an important milestone for our innovations that help our customers get the results they need." About MyFonts Bitstream is a registered trademark of Bitstream Inc. MyFonts and MyFonts.com are registered service marks and WhatTheFont is a service mark of MyFonts.com, Inc. Other technologies and brand names are used for information only and remain trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Contact Bob Thomas |