MacroPoint vows to fight on in patent dispute

The freight tracking software provider filed a brief earlier this month challenging the denial of a copyright infringement lawsuit against competitor FourKites in 2015.    The freight tracking software provider MacroPoint on Monday said that it has filed a brief with the Federal Circuit of Appeals arguing that five of its patents are legally valid.
   The brief, filed March 3, seeks to overturn a decision by the federal court for the Northern District of Ohio from mid-2015 to deny MacroPoint’s claim of patent infringement by its competitor FourKites.
   “MacroPoint strongly believes in its intellectual property and is committed to aggressively enforcing its rights against any and all infringers,” the company said in a statement Monday. “As competitors have entered the marketplace, MacroPoint has continually evaluated products and services for violations of MacroPoint’s patent rights.
   “In (the 2015 lawsuit decision), the district court applied the evolving and unsettled body of law that determines what is and is not patentable subject matter to invalidate MacroPoint’s asserted patents. MacroPoint believes the district court misapplied the law and strongly disagrees with the decision. MacroPoint has appealed the issue to a higher court, and the dispute with FourKites is ongoing.”
   MacroPoint’s software is designed to allow shippers to gain visibility into third party load status – in other words, to be able to track freight tendered through brokers to carriers. The technology tracks the location of a driver’s mobile phone, including flip phones, or existing in-cab ELD/GPS devices.
   FourKites offers similar third party visibility technology as the market for visibility into third party loads has grow substantially in recent years.
   MacroPoint said it believes its seven patents, granted by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, are “valid and enforceable.”
   After the Federal Circuit’s decision in this case, MacroPoint said it “will seek to assert its patent rights to the fullest extent permitted by law against every single company providing infringing products and services and every company who has chosen to risk using such infringing products and services.”