August 21, 2003 - E-Pass Washington

Court of Appeals Reversal

On August 20, 2003, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in Washington, issued a precedential opinion reversing the judgment of non-infringement that had been previously entered in the E-Pass v. Palm and 3Com patent litigation.  The Federal Circuit’s decision, binding on all U.S. District Courts in the United States, held that the E-pass patent is not limited to a credit-card sized device, as Judge Jensen of the California District Court erroneously concluded in the Palm litigation.  The Federal Circuit further held that Palm sized PDA’s could literally, as well as under the doctrine of equivalents, infringe the E-pass patent.

A similar litigation against Microsoft and Compaq (now Hewlett Packard) in the U.S. District Court in Texas had been stayed pending the Federal Circuit decision.  The basis for the stay is now over, the decision being binding upon the Texas court, and it is expected that both the Palm/3Com and Microsoft/Compaq litigations will resume sometime within the next four to six weeks.

With a view towards the vigorous enforcement and protection of its intellectual property rights, E-pass is currently undergoing a thorough evaluation of all products and processes that might be covered by its patent, now that the patent has been vindicated by the Federal Circuit in Washington. It is expected that E-pass will be filing additional patent infringement actions in the not-too distant future.