U.S. agency validates one of MacroPoint’s patents

The third-party load tracking visibility provider lauded the U.S. Patent and Trade Office’s decision to protect its patent against competitors, including FourKites.    The third-party load tracking visibility provider MacroPoint said Wednesday it has won a patent related to its technology for tracking the location of trucks using cell phones and electronic logging devices.
   “Owning this patent for third-party tracking using mobile devices such as in-cab ELD devices and cell phones validates that the technology we are selling is worthy of patent protection and that it was invented by MacroPoint,” said Bennett Adelson, chief executive officer of MacroPoint. “It gives our customers peace of mind that the technology they are deploying for monitoring the location of freight is not only best in class technology that delivers them a carrier visibility network that has been extensively adopted by carriers throughout the industry, but that it’s also properly licensed from MacroPoint.”
   The decision by the U.S. Patent and Trade Office – U.S. Patent No. 9,429,659 for “Machine or Group of Machines for Monitoring Location of a Vehicle or Freight Carried by a Vehicle” – is the latest development in a saga that has seen MacroPoint defend its technology from competitors, notably FourKites. MacroPoint filed a patent infringement case against FourKites in 2015 over five of its patents, a move that was denied in late 2015 by a federal court in Ohio, which is where MacroPoint is based.
   MacroPoint provides tracking technology for third-party brokered loads, primarily through partnerships with transportation management systems providers. The company said in March it would continue its fight to protect what it considered its patents.