MacroPoint's Latest Patent Related to Five Patents Already Invalidated by FourKites in Federal Court

CHICAGO, Sept. 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- FourKites today said that the U.S. Patent issued to MacroPoint on August 30, 2016, is largely the same as the five other patents that a Federal District Court previously ruled were invalid.  The new patent, U.S. Patent No. 9,429,659, is a continuation of the five U.S. Patents that MacroPoint accused FourKites of infringing last year.  FourKites challenged those five patents in Federal District Court in Ohio.  Last November, that Court agreed with FourKites, and ruled that every claim in every one of those patents was invalid because MacroPoint's alleged invention "involve[d] only the conventional use of a computer" and "well-understood, routine, conventional activity."

In reaching its decision, the Federal District Court in Ohio concluded that MacroPoint's patents were "directed to the abstract idea of tracking freight."  According to the Court, "upholding the patents would risk disproportionately tying up the use of the underlying conventional steps."  MacroPoint's appeal of that decision remains pending at the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, and oral argument in the appeal is expected in the coming months.

MacroPoint's new patent is a "continuation" of the same five MacroPoint patents that the Federal Court in Ohio has ruled invalid, meaning that it relates to the same subject matter that has already been ruled invalid by the Federal Court in Ohio.  "It is not surprising that the patent examiner allowed this patent to issue to MacroPoint," said Matt Elenjickal, CEO of FourKites.  "This patent was allowed by the same examiner that allowed MacroPoint's previous five patents to issue.  A Federal District Court judge ruled those patents were invalid, and we would expect this patent to meet a similar fate."  Although the patent has issued, its validity has not yet been challenged in Federal District Court as were the other five related MacroPoint patents, and the issuance of the new patent does not undo or negate the status of those five previously invalidated patents.  

Media Contact: FourKites Media Relations, 773-717 5629, [email protected]

SOURCE FourKites

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