Many patent assertion entity cases never even go to trial, since appeasing a PAE with licensing fees is often preferable to funding an extended court battle, particularly when the defendant is a small- or medium-sized private sector company. A similar scenario had been playing out of late with ArrivalStar, one of today's most notoriously litigious "patent trolls" in practice (or non-practice, as the case may be). An interesting difference, however, is that this time, the PAE set the public sector in its sites, going after public transportation agencies for alleged patent infringement. According to the claim, these municipal companies have been ripping off a vehicle-tracking idea that ArrivalStar founder Martin Kelly Jones thought of back in the early '90s.As is the case with its "typical" victims, ArrivalStar was hoping for some "fast cash," which they assumed would be more forthcoming than usual, since they were essentially threatening a wallet funded by taxpayer money; if they knew what was good for them, no municipality in its right mind would agree to compromise their constituents' hard-earned cash on a case that could more easily be resolved by paying off the plaintiff. This shady logic did, indeed, pay off for ArrivalStar, which settled numerous cases out of court in several US states since last year, including a "big win" in Kings County, Seattle. (The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is still putting up a fight in defense of their use of vehicle-tracking technology.) This pattern was getting other cash-strapped cities nervous that they might be targeted next.
The latest development in this story, however, may give some hope to public transit systems everywhere: The American Public Transportation Association (APTA), along with the Public Patent Foundation (PubPat) decided they weren't going to take it anymore, and fought back. They filed a lawsuit that challenged ArrivalStar's repeated frivolous charges, and sought to nullify some of their patents altogether, considering that the company apparently hasn't researched, developed, or produced anything related to those patents anyway. A pivotal argument in their case invoked the 11th Amendment Immunity, which "prohibits APTA's state and regional public transportation agency members from even being subject to such suits."
Clearly not used to meeting such resistance, this time ArrivalStar felt compelled to settle, agreeing "not to make any future patent infringement claims against any of APTA’s public transportation agency members or any vendors providing goods and services to APTA public transportation agency members." While this is certainly a win for APTA and its members around the country, the settlement might also constitute another small victory for ArrivalStar, who narrowly avoided actually having to go to court to defend and demonstrate the validity of their patents.
The latest development in this story, however, may give some hope to public transit systems everywhere: The American Public Transportation Association (APTA), along with the Public Patent Foundation (PubPat) decided they weren't going to take it anymore, and fought back. They filed a lawsuit that challenged ArrivalStar's repeated frivolous charges, and sought to nullify some of their patents altogether, considering that the company apparently hasn't researched, developed, or produced anything related to those patents anyway. A pivotal argument in their case invoked the 11th Amendment Immunity, which "prohibits APTA's state and regional public transportation agency members from even being subject to such suits."
Clearly not used to meeting such resistance, this time ArrivalStar felt compelled to settle, agreeing "not to make any future patent infringement claims against any of APTA’s public transportation agency members or any vendors providing goods and services to APTA public transportation agency members." While this is certainly a win for APTA and its members around the country, the settlement might also constitute another small victory for ArrivalStar, who narrowly avoided actually having to go to court to defend and demonstrate the validity of their patents.