Geotab, a global leader in IoT and connected transportation, today announced its victory in a patent infringement lawsuit in the District of Delaware, brought against Geotab by Inventergy LBS, LLC (“Inventergy”), a non-practicing entity (“NPE”). Consistent with the company’s long-established policy of standing its ground against NPEs that assert unfounded claims, Geotab refused to make any payment and made clear that it would challenge the validity of the patent in court and through the Inter Partes Review process at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board should the case proceed. As a result, Inventergy dropped the lawsuit.
“Unfounded claims from NPEs such as Inventergy are often intended to extract unwarranted payments from members of the fleet management industry,” stated Dirk Schlimm, Executive Vice President at Geotab. “Geotab has repeatedly taken a stand against similar meritless lawsuits and it is our consistent policy to refuse to submit to scare tactics that are aimed at coercing quick settlements.”
Geotab’s firm stance against these types of unfounded claims has enabled the company to prevail time and time again. In 2015, the company was sued in the Eastern District of Texas for patent infringement by an NPE that simultaneously targeted 50 other companies including large organizations in the automotive and telecom industries, many of which settled with the NPE. Geotab successfully defended itself in this lawsuit, arguing for its dismissal for lack of patentable subject matter and succeeding again as the NPE attempted to appeal the court’s decision. Less than a year later, Geotab again faced a similar NPE case; highlighting its successful track record, the company affirmed its stance against these types of lawsuits until the case was subsequently dropped without payment.
Adhering to the company’s firm commitment to always doing the right thing, Geotab prevailed in the recent Inventergy lawsuit in a similar manner. When the plaintiff was made aware both of relevant technical information predating the patent and of the patent’s vulnerability to invalidation, as well as of Geotab’s track record, the NPE dropped the case without any payment. Now, Geotab is offering to collaborate with and support others within the fleet management industry who are facing similar, targeted lawsuits from NPEs pursuing unfounded claims.
“Geotab is prepared to share relevant technical information and other insights with any company who is being harassed by this or other NPEs with frivolous lawsuits,” added Schlimm. “As an industry, we have a collective duty to support each other as we strive to provide businesses around the world with fleet management solutions that not only benefit our customers but the community at large.”
Geotab’s cross-functional internal patent litigation team, including Vice President of Intellectual Property Derek Smith, General Counsel Laurence Prystawski and Executive Vice President Dirk Schlimm, collaborated with the expert litigation team at Wolf Greenfield & Sacks, P.C., which included Michael Albert, Jason Honeyman and other intellectual property specialists, to develop and execute this innovative and aggressive strategy to help combat NPE patent litigation and dispose of these lawsuits.
About Geotab
Geotab is advancing security, connecting commercial vehicles to the internet and providing web-based analytics to help customers better manage their fleets. Geotab’s open platform and Marketplace, offering hundreds of third-party solution options, allows both small and large businesses to automate operations by integrating vehicle data with their other data assets. As an IoT hub, the in-vehicle device provides additional functionality through IOX Add-Ons. Processing billions of data points a day, Geotab leverages data analytics and machine learning to help customers improve productivity, optimize fleets through the reduction of fuel consumption, enhance driver safety, and achieve strong compliance to regulatory changes. Geotab’s products are represented and sold worldwide through Authorized Geotab Resellers. To learn more, please visit follow us @GEOTAB and on LinkedIn.
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