Firepond Patents Licensed by eGain (email this article)

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, August ___, 2003 – Firepond (Company Profile, Past Stories, Case Studies), Inc. (Nasdaq: FIRE), a leading provider of multi-channel contact center solution management and interactive selling solutions, announced today that eGain, a leading provider of customer service software and services to the Global 2000, will license three patents in Firepond’s Brightware Patent Portfolio.

Under the agreement, eGain will license the following Firepond patents: U.S. Patent No. 6,411,947 - Automatic Message Interpretation and Routing System; U.S. Patent No. 6,182,059 - Automatic Electronic Message Interpretation and Routing System; and U.S. Patent No. 6,278,996 - System and Method for Message Process and Response.

"Firepond is pleased to add eGain to our growing list of companies who have chosen to take advantage of our technology," said John Hogie, vice president, Brightware Division of Firepond. “Our licensing program enables other software providers to license our patents to legally leverage Firepond's intellectual property.”

David Pridham, director of intellectual property and licensing at Firepond, went on to comment, “Firepond is committed to protecting the value it has created over the past twenty years and realizes the potential value our patents can provide other solution providers.  To that end, we created a patent licensing program that will allow companies to leverage our intellectual property.”

About eGain Communications Corp.
eGain is a leading provider of customer service and contact center software, used by global enterprises for over a decade. 24 of the 50 largest global companies rely on eGain to transform their traditional call centers into profit centers, and extend their competitive advantage through unmatched customer service. eGain Service 6™, the company's software suite, available licensed or hosted, includes integrated, best-in-class applications for customer email management, live web collaboration, virtual agent customer service, knowledge management, call tracking, service fulfillment and web self-service. These robust applications are built on the eGain Service Management Platform™ (eGain SMP™), a scalable next-generation framework that includes end-to-end service process management, multi-channel, multi-site contact center management, a flexible integration approach, and certified out-of-the-box integrations with leading call center, content and business systems. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, eGain has an operating presence in 18 countries and serves over 800 enterprise customers worldwide. To find out more about eGain, visit http://www.eGain.com.

About Firepond, Inc.
Firepond provides interactive selling and eService software solutions that help companies more profitably acquire and retain customers. The complementary configuration, guided selling, on-line customer service, and response management applications leverage proven intelligence engines and patented automation technology. Firepond’s solutions help to drive new revenue streams, increase profitability, and manage customer interactions across all channels throughout the sales and service cycle.  By focusing on interaction, transaction, and content, Firepond’s Brightware email response software enables companies to cost-effectively manage their online customer interactions by leveraging advanced patented intelligence engines and natural language processing technology.  Using the Brightware product, companies can provide immediate, accurate, and qualified responses to all email customer inquiries without any incremental customer service cost. The Brightware product consists of email, web self-service, and chat that can be tightly integrated into a multi-channel communication suite. All three applications, managed through an integrated intelligence engine and response library database, are designed to be run as stand alone products or as a full product suite. Firepond is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota with additional offices in Mankato, Minnesota, France and Japan.  For additional information about Firepond visit www.firepond.com.