RPost says US Patent Office backs its digital mail patents

Digital mail technology firm RPost said today that it has gained a crucial confirmation of the validity of its patents for registered email. The US firm has been in the process of suing companies including Swiss Post, Canada Post, Docusign, Adobe and others since last year over their use of similar technology to provide proof of delivery on digital mail services.

Earlier this year, Swiss Post claimed that RPost had dropped its patent infringement case in Europe because it accepted its patents weren’t valid, and suggested the question would also be resolved in the US courts.

But today Los Angeles-based RPort said the US Patent Office had concluded after a re-examination that the “219 proof of delivery patent is patentable with all 89 claims deemed valid”.

RPost said jury trial dates have now been set for its patent lawsuits in the Eastern District of Texas for August 2013.

“We are pleased the patent office has interpreted this RPost patent in the manner in which we always have, a patent on proof of successful electronic transmission,” said the RPost CEO, Zafar Khan.

Khan said the Patent Office re-examination delivered a “clear message of novelty, patentabiilty and validity” over its patents in the face of “false statements” being issued by its opponents questioning the patents’ validity.

“This should serve as a signal to not only those companies that we have sued for patent infringement, but also their end users and resellers; stop infringing, assess your situation and examine your indemnifications. We do intend to enforce our patent rights everywhere,” said Khan.

RPost has patents covering aspects of digital mail including proof of delivery, message encryption and electronic signatures for legal documents.

The company said today that the US Patent Office has now allowed three new RPost patents focusing on technologies for the recording of delivery and opening of email.