A patent-renewal service firm in Stamford has sued several law firms and companies from around Connecticut, including General Electric Co., and the nation, alleging illicit use of its patents.
WhitServe LLC. already won an $8 million jury award in May against Maryland-based Computer Packages Inc., or CPi, for the illegal use of WhitServe’s patents. The two patents in question are for automated professional services via the Internet that tell patent-holders when their patents are going to expire and how they can renew them.
In the May trial, WhitServe, which was founded by Stamford lawyer and inventor Wes Whitmyer, proved more than 40 infringements of its patents by CPi, which then passed along the technology to law firms and companies that allegedly continued to misuse the patents.
In that trial, the judge ruled CPi was only responsible for damages from its direct use of the patents, and was not financially responsible for what the other companies did with the patents.
So, on June 18, WhitServe filed a second lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Maryland against the law firms and companies that continue to infringe on the patents. Fairfield-based GE is a co-defendant.
Other defendants include law firms in Massachusetts, Ohio, Illinois and Minnesota, and companies Intel Corp. and EMC Corp. The lawsuit also includes a provision whereby WhitServe can add more defendants as it discovers them.
The case already has patent companies scrambling for cover. Europe-based CPA Global, which is similar in name but no way related to CPi, already launched a campaign to inform its clients that its use of the WhitServe patents is fully allowable under a license agreement with the Stamford firm.
Although WhitServe’s lawsuit does not specify the amount it is seeking through the case, the company asks for an injunction to stop all infringement on its patents and for damages related to these companies’ illicit use of the patents.
