MacroPoint, Freight Tracking Software Firm, Granted Mobile Device Patent
Freight tracking software provider MacroPoint announced that it’s been granted another patent using mobile devices, the latest step in a battle with FourKites, another vendor of software in that market sector.
MacroPoint, based in Cleveland, said its patent for a “machine or group of machines for monitoring location of a vehicle or freight carried by a vehicle” was issued on Aug. 30 after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected a protest by FourKites.
“Owning this patent for third-party tracking using mobile devices such as in-cab ELD devices and cellphones validates that the technology we are selling is worthy of patent protection and that it was invented by MacroPoint,” said CEO Bennett Adelson.
MacroPoint products link ELD devices, trailer- and container-tracking systems, driver cellphones and transportation management systems operated by fleets and brokers to give real-time freight information.
The announcement was made as the two companies continue their battle in the federal courts.
MacroPoint has asked the U.S. Court of Appeals to reject a lower court ruling that found FourKites didn’t infringe on a MacroPoint patent. Earlier this year, MacroPoint began making its case to the Court of Appeals in the Federal Circuit, seeking to win court approval for its contention that five of its patents are valid.
Citing a 2014 Supreme Court case, the 2015 ruling by U.S. District Judge Patricia Gaughan found that “the patents-in-suit are directed to the abstract idea of tracking freight. The steps in the claimed invention do involve well-understood, routine, conventional activity. Upholding the patents would risk disproportionately tying up the use of the underlying conventional steps.”
FourKites didn’t respond to requests for comment from Transport Topics on the patent decision.
This week’s statement from MacroPoint noted that it has seven patents already and has two other applications pending.
The latest patent is No. 9,429,659.
