A United States federal court judge has issued a summary judgment in the E-Pass vs. Palm case, stating that Palm did not infringe on E-Pass's patent claims.
E-Pass had filed a suit against Palm in February 2000, claiming that Palm handhelds infringed on their 1994 patent on "electronic multifunction cards". Judge Lowell Jensen sided with Palm, stating that Palm devices did not infringe on the patent either directly or indirectly.
This is the second time in as many months that Palm has successfully defended a suit on patent infringement. In July, NCR's lawsuit against both Palm and Handspring for infringement of a "portable personal terminal" was also dismissed. As with the NCR suit, many observers felt that the E-Pass suit was simply an extortion lawsuit, as when the suit was filed Palm was by far the largest handheld manufacturer, claiming over 75% of the handheld market.
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