Court Dismisses Toshiba, Melvino Lawsuit

Case Filed: Jul 15, 2013

Case Closed: Sep 27, 2013

Judge: K. Michael Moore

Court: Florida Southern District Court

Case Summary:

A patent infringement suit was filed by ArrivalStar S.A. and Melvino Technologies against Toshiba for violating 3 of their patents relating to data communications and information systems. The patents involved in this suit were:

•   US6904359 entitled “Notification systems and methods” with user-definable notifications based upon occurrence of events, issued on Jun 07, 2005 and expired^* on May 13, 2013
•      US6952645 entitled “System and method for activation of an advance notification system” for monitoring and reporting status of vehicle travel issued on Oct 04, 2005 and expiring* by May 06, 2017
•     US7400970 entitled “System and method for an advance notification system” for monitoring and reporting proximity of a vehicle issued on Jul 15, 2008 and expired^* on May 13, 2013

The ‘359 and ‘970 patents were last assigned⁺ and the ‘645 patent is currently assigned⁺ to Melvino (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database) and ArrivalStar is the exclusive licensee of the patents.

The complaint said, defendant makes use of tracking, load tenders, shipment status and email alerts functions, application solutions, devices, programs, products, services, methods and/or systems which utilize tracking and messaging technologies that are protected by the ‘359, ‘645 and ‘970 patents.  Plaintiffs wanted Court to enter judgment against defendant, permanent enjoinment from using their patented technology, costs and expenses.

On July 17, 2013, Court entered a Pretrial Order which required the Parties to file a joint scheduling report.  The Order cautioned, "failure of counsel to file a joint scheduling report within the deadlines set forth above may result in dismissal, default, and the imposition of other sanctions including attorneys' fees and costs."

The deadline for filing a joint scheduling report was not met and no extension of time was requested. Accordingly, based on the Pretrial order, the Court ordered the action to be dismissed without prejudice and thereby closing the case. The Parties may reopen the case upon filing a joint scheduling report.

See  1:13-cv-22521 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

* Expected expiration date using Patent Term Estimator, use our free tool or download our free Android app on Google Play Store. 

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* Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents. 

+ MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.