Rumors of software patent infringement…

I have been hearing about a company in Canada, named Tielhard that had been in negotiations with and potential lawsuits with IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and a ton of others for a patent infringement. Tielhard bought the patent from Juxtacomm, another small Canadian Company. Why do you care? Maybe you don’t.

However there is a company here in the US which I understand is called VPS Solutions, LLC, that has been approaching parking operators and offering them a license for the software that was patented by Juxtacomm, a patent now owned by Tielhard. Apparently they own the US rights to this patent as it relates to parking and building management software. This information has made its way to some of the larger equipment software suppliers and they are currently having their patent attorneys look at the issue. The software, I believe, was not sold separately but was, or could have been, included in other software that was supplied to the operator and or facility owner.

The manufacturer’s recommendations to their customers have been to do nothing until they complete their research, which should be finished in a few weeks.

This is one of those non stories that may be nothing. But I also understand that some of the big guys above (IBM et al) settled before the suit could proceed. If you want details, this blog seems to have the inside poop.

I’ll try to keep you posted. It’s very fuzzy and like most people my eyes glaze over when the intricacies of software are being discussed and this is really in the noise level.

JVH