EFI Wards Off "Patent Troll" in Appeals Court

EFI announced that it has prevailed in a court case filed against the company in what it characterizes as a “patent troll” attempt to extract a settlement. In early July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit confirmed that a device profile patent asserted by a subsidiary of the non-practicing entity Acacia Research against EFI and 31 other companies is invalid.

Digitech Image Technologies, a subsidiary of Acacia, filed a patent infringement suit in a California federal court in August 2012 against EFI, certain EFI strategic partners and others. In August 2013, the district court invalidated the patent and entered judgment in favor of EFI and the other defendants.

Digitech appealed and, on July 11, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision. The Federal Circuit recognized that the device profiles claimed in Digitech’s patent were simply “a collection of intangible color and spatial information” and therefore not eligible for patenting.

Although Digitech had previously garnered settlements from some companies before the district court’s decision, EFI noted it opposed Digitech’s claims from the start.

“The Federal Circuit’s decision confirms what we have maintained from the outset: that the patent is invalid and that EFI and its partners should not have been sued in the first place,” said EFI General Counsel Bryan Ko.

“As we have said before, we will not be bullied into settling abusive lawsuits by patent trolls.”

About EFI
EFI is a worldwide provider of products, technology and services leading the transformation of analog to digital imaging. Based in Silicon Valley, with offices around the globe, the company's powerful integrated product portfolio includes digital front-end servers; superwide, wide-format, label and ceramic inkjet presses and inks; production workflow, Web-to-print and business automation software; and office, enterprise and mobile cloud solutions. These products allow users to produce, communicate and share information in an easy and effective way, and enable businesses to increase their profits, productivity and efficiency.

Source: EFI.