Over the last several months, patent holder Melvino Technologies
Limited, and its Luxembourg-based licensee, ArrivalStar S.A.,
(together "ArrivalStar") have filed scores of patent
infringement lawsuits targeting a variety of software, retail and
transportation companies. In these suits, ArrivalStar asserts a
portfolio of patents, broadly covering a number of systems and
methods related to vehicle tracking and notification.
For instance, ArrivalStar's U.S. Patent No. 6,714,859, entitled
"User Definable Communications Methods and Systems,"
describes a system for tracking the progress of a vehicle in
transit through a GPS or other positioning system, storing
collected information on a device, and sending notifications to an
individual from the device to signal the status – such as
the impending arrival – of the vehicle, be it a
package-delivering courier, a bus, or aircraft. ArrivalStar's
other patents describe similar systems and methods, some providing
for configurable notification, or for additional detail about the
vehicle, potentially allowing an individual to reroute a shipment
or otherwise request changes to the vehicle's route in real
time.
Such technology and systems have, in some form or another, become
commonplace and indispensable within retail and other industries.
It is no surprise then that ArrivalStar's lawsuits have named
not only software producers and transportation and shipping
companies, but many of the largest retailers in the United States,
including Best Buy, Home Depot, Abercrombie and Fitch Stores,
Barnes & Noble, Macy's, Toys "R" Us, and
Kohl's.
Through its demand letters, ArrivalStar claims to have licensed its
patents to "over 170 companies in the transportation,
transportation logistics, cargo shipment, package delivery and
related industries." Several of the targets of such letters
have responded to ArrivalStar's offer to license its patents
with declaratory judgment actions, filing suit against ArrivalStar
and seeking declarations that the patents are invalid and/or that
there was no infringement of the asserted claims.
With a dozen lawsuits filed between April and June 2011 alone,
ArrivalStar continues to pursue companies who have developed or use
vehicle tracking and notification systems. Software, transportation
and retail companies should monitor the ArrivalStar lawsuits, form
defense groups to more efficiently and effectively deflect and
defeat these patents suits, and consider declaratory judgment
actions to control the timing and venue of any action.
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