MacroPoint Appeals Dismissal of Patent Suit Against FourKites

Freight-tracking technology firm MacroPoint has appealed a U.S. District Court’s decision to dismiss its patent-infringement lawsuit against rival FourKites.

In a March 21 statement, MacroPoint said it “strongly disagrees” with the district court’s Nov. 6 ruling and has filed its appeal with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that five of its patents are valid.

The lawsuit, originally filed in May, involves technology designed to give brokers and other third parties visibility to load status by tracking the location of drivers’ mobile phones or onboard telematics devices.

The district court’s ruling cited a 2014 Supreme Court decision, Alice Corp. vs. CLS Bank International.

However, MacroPoint said four of its patents were evaluated and granted after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office established guidelines and standards aimed at ensuring compliance with the Alice decision, a landmark case on patent eligibility.

“Therefore, MacroPoint is most confident that its patents are indeed valid and enforceable and fully expects that the Federal Circuit will agree and reverse the incorrect decision of the lower court,” the company said.

FourKites, however, continued to point to the district court’s decision, which the company said invalidated all claims of the five patents at issue.

“An appeal is a routine legal proceeding that will play out in the Federal Circuit, and it would be inappropriate to comment on the merits of pending litigation,” FourKites CEO Mathew Elenjickal said in a statement to Transport Topics. “That said, if you look at the history of ‘Alice’ appeals in front of the Federal Circuit, that court has confirmed the lower court’s decision on nearly every occasion, and we feel strongly that they will uphold the decision in this case as well.”