Ninety-five NeoMedia patent claims rejected by USPTO after EFF request
Agency rules patent claims relating to bar-code lookup not novel
Defendant: Electronic Frontier Foundation
Plaintiff: NeoMedia
Jurisdiction:
Result:
Source: Michael Kwun, “U.S. Patent Office rejects all ninety-five NeoMedia patent claims,” Electronic Frontier Foundation, July 18, 2008; Joel Hruska, “Bar code patent invalidated, another notch on EFF’s belt,” ars technica, July 20, 2008.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) rejected all 95 of NeoMedia’s patent claims relating to a bar-code lookup in the reexamination proceeding filed by EFF.
The EFF filed a petition for ex parte reexamination presenting a significant amount of prior art, arguing NeoMedia’s patent claims were not novel and prompting the USPTO to take another look at the patent in October. After considering the prior art, the agency ruled none of the 95 claims should have been allowed.
NeoMedia can now explain how the patent claims are novel or narrow its patent claims for revalidation. NeoMedia’s patent infringement lawsuit against rival ScanBuy relating to the now-invalidated patent claims is on hold pending the outcome.
