Canadian technology company Protus IP Solutions has won a patent suit pending for the past two years in the Central District of California, according to a press release. U.S. District Court Judge Dean Pregerson had issued on November 13, 2007 an order that stated the case against Protus is dismissed. He had also dismissed the case with prejudice i.e. the patents cannot be reasserted against the company.
 
Established more than 10 years ago, Protus IP Solutions (News - Alert) is a rapidly growing application service provider. The company delivers value-added Internet fax communication and voice messaging services to businesses across the world. Customers from the finance, insurance, real estate, pharmaceutical and retail industries have tasted success in their outsourced engagements with the company. Online Internet fax services are targeted at Personal, Small Business and Corporate users and are delivered under the brand name MyFax (News - Alert). Protus offers its solutions both directly as well as through a network of worldwide partners, including major service providers.
 
The plaintiff (Catch Curve, Inc.) is a patent holding company that is affiliated with Protus’ competitor j2 Global (News - Alert) Communications. The company had raised the allegation that Protus’ popular Internet fax services (MyFax and Virtual Fax) infringed five Catch Curve patents.
 
“At the Markman hearing in May the court held that the patents do not apply to Protus’ MyFax and Virtual Fax services,” Andrea Girones, General Counsel at Protus, was quoted as saying in the report. “We are pleased that the case was dismissed. This is a clear victory for Protus and MyFax.”
 
The case had created ripples in the industry and was tracked closely by technology and communications companies. This was primarily due to the fact that Catch Curve had licensed the patents to over 30 companies before turning its attention to Protus. Protus has successfully challenged these patents in the courts and won it convincingly.
 
“We are confident in our technology and intellectual property,” Joseph Nour, Protus’ Chief Executive Officer, was quoted as saying in the report. “We have developed a significant portfolio of ‘prior art’ which challenges the validity of many of the patents in this space. Our customers can confidently rely on MyFax for all of their faxing needs.”
 
It is observed that, companies often prefer to pay a settlement amount short of trial instead of bearing the high costs associated with defending U.S. patent cases in court. This is the case even if the merits weigh strongly in the favor of these companies. However, unrelenting Protus had, after consulting its U.S. patent counsel at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, opted to fight the plaintiff’s allegations in court.
 
Calvin Azuri is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
 
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