BELLEVUE, Wash.– EagleView®, a leading technology provider of aerial imagery and data analytics, announced several significant victories in its ongoing patent litigation against Xactware and Verisk. The decisions not only validated core elements of the EagleView patent portfolio, but also enables EagleView to pursue claims now pending in New Jersey federal court that Xactware and Verisk infringe EagleView’s technology, should be prevented from using it in the future and should pay EagleView for past damages.
First, in a ruling in late January, Judge Kugler of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey denied Xactware and Verisk’s motion for summary judgment of invalidity, rejecting Xactware’s latest attacks on the validity of EagleView’s patents. Following that, on February 4, Judge Kugler denied another attempt by Xactware and Verisk to escape liability, this time rejecting their motion to strike EagleView’s claim of damages for Xactware and Verisk’s past infringement. On that same day, Judge Kugler also struck one of Xactware and Verisk’s arguments that they do not infringe EagleView’s patents, finding that the Defendants’ arguments were inconsistent with governing U.S. patent law.
Together, these rulings clear the way for EagleView to take its claims against Xactware and Verisk to trial. Judge Kugler has set a trial date for late May of this year, where EagleView will ask the jury to find that Defendants Xactware and Verisk are willful patent infringers and award damages for their past infringement, and then ask the Court to issue an injunction to prevent the Defendants from continuing their unlawful infringement of EagleView’s patented technology.
“We believe that the Court’s decisions validate the strength and importance of our patents and innovative technology,” EagleView CEO Rishi Daga said. “Xactware and Verisk have engaged in a years-long attempt to illegally and unfairly compete by copying our innovations. We look forward to our upcoming day in Court, where we believe a jury will confirm that Xactware and Verisk are intentionally using our patented technology. We believe the jury and Court will insist that Xactware stop what they’re doing and pay for their wrong behavior.”
Background
In late 2015, EagleView filed a lawsuit against Xactware Solutions, Inc. (“Xactware”) and Verisk Analytics, Inc., (“Verisk”) for their willful infringement of EagleView patents covering key technologies. The lawsuit (EagleView Technologies, Inc. and Pictometry Int’l Corp., v. Xactware Solutions, Inc. and Verisk Analytics, Inc., case number 1:15-cv-07025) is currently in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.
This lawsuit is necessary to hold Xactware and Verisk accountable for their actions. The Defendants long coveted and publicly lauded EagleView’s industry-changing technologies, but when the Defendants’ attempt to purchase EagleView failed, the Defendants resorted to copying EagleView’s technologies rather than competing fairly by developing their own solutions.
Xactware and Verisk have taken numerous steps to prevent EagleView’s claims from reaching a jury, including repeatedly arguing that EagleView’s successful and widely-praised technology is not entitled to patent protection. Xactware and Verisk have twice asked the District Court to invalidate the asserted claims in the six EagleView patents at issue under 35 U.S.C. § 101, arguing that each patent claimed abstract ideas and lacked any inventive concept. On Tuesday, January 29, 2019, the Court again rejected the Defendants’ arguments and denied their motion for summary judgment, clearing the way for EagleView’s case to go to trial.
The Defendants earlier challenged the validity of EagleView’s patents with the U.S. Patent Office, where EagleView also defeated Xactware and Verisk’s efforts to invalidate nine of EagleView’s patents (six of which are at issue in the § 101 decision) in the Patent Trial and Appeal Board or PTAB. That win was previously covered by Law360 in an article titled “Xactware Challenges to Rival’s Patents End With A Wimper,” https://www.kirkland.com/news/in-the-news/2017/08/xactware-challenges-to-rivals-patents-end-with-a-w.
Importance of January 2019 Decision
Judge Kugler’s January 2019 decision is a noteworthy decision in the § 101 area of the patent world because the court rejected the Defendants’ arguments on both steps 1 and 2 of the Alice framework.
With respect to step 1 of Alice, the Court held that “the asserted claims are directed to an improvement in the functioning of a computer” that “solve the specific problem of generating a roof repair estimate without direct human measurement of a roof,” and noted that the “Defendants’ characterization [of the patents] oversimplifies the claims, which are more specific and concrete, and hence present[] a technological improvement.”
With respect to step 2 of Alice, the Court held that even if the asserted claims were found directed to an abstract idea, the claims still embody a specific inventive concept that improved the functioning of a computer in roof-report generation. In denying the Defendants’ motion, the Court concluded that “it has not been demonstrated by clear and convincing evidence on the summary judgment record that either the relevant claims are directed to an abstract idea or embody no inventive concept.”
The case will now proceed to trial with law firm Kirkland & Ellis continuing to represent EagleView.
About EagleView
EagleView is transforming the way you work by bringing you the highest level of accuracy in a constantly changing world. EagleView combines imagery that reveals the finest and most important details with computer vision to help you identify insights into any location—from anywhere. By delivering timely, comprehensive answers to complex questions, we help professionals across industries improve people’s lives and make informed decisions for the present and future. For more information, call (866) 659-8439, visit eagleview.com and follow @eagleviewtech.
