Infoseek Corp has delayed the launch of its souped up search engine, Ultraseek, and in the process won’t get the maximum benefit from its one-year exclusive licensing deal, signed last Sunday, for Xerox Corp’s linguistic analysis technology. Instead of having a site for Infoseek Guide and another for Ultraseek, the firm will integrate the two in Infoseek 3.0, according to our sister publication, Online Reporter. But Infoseek signed a contract to have exclusive use of Xerox’s linguistics analysis technology for 1996, expecting to release Ultraseek in June. Its prospectus says now Ultraseek is due out in the second half of 1996, possibly narrowing its window of exclusivity down to nothing. Other companies will be able to license Xerox’s technology beginning in 1997. Infoseek says Ultraseek will enable users faster searches of a wider number of sites than its current InfoSeek Guide. The company will pay Xerox royalties of up to $200,000 per year in 1996 and 1997 and $300,000 in 1998.
