Patents at Issue in Pitney Suit Against Stamps.com
Postage meter giant Pitney Bowes Inc. on Wednesday sued rival Stamps.com Inc. in a new clash over patents between the companies.
Pitney Bowes, in a suit filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, claims that Santa Monica-based Stamps.com’s new NetStamps product infringes on four of its patents.
NetStamps allows customers to print a sheet of postage of any denomination onto adhesive labels.
“Our main goal here is to settle this matter and reach a licensing agreement with Stamps.com,” said Joseph Kirincich, assistant deputy general counsel for Pitney Bowes. “But if that’s not possible we will aggressively pursue appropriate compensation.”
Kirincich could not say how much revenue Pitney could expect from a licensing pact with Stamps.com. Stamford, Conn.-based Pitney has annual revenue of $4.1 billion. But Stamps.com, which has annual revenue of about $19.4 million, said Pitney should instead be licensing Stamps.com products.
“I think their complaint is part of a pattern where Stamps.com innovates and Pitney Bowes litigates,” said Seth Weisberg, general counsel for Stamps.com. “It appears to be an effort to distract attention away from the fact that Pitney Bowes’ [new line of] mailing systems are on the line.”
The two companies have a long history of litigation.
Pitney Bowes launched its DM series of mailing systems this year. Stamps.com was successful in adding the products to the patent infringement suit it filed against Pitney Bowes last year. That suit came two years after Pitney Bowes sued Stamps.com for patent infringement in 1999.
The cases are expected to go to trial together sometime next year. A pretrial hearing is set for May, Weisberg said.
Pitney Bowes’ latest claim against Stamps.com includes three patents that are part of its original suit. Those patents involve secure online printing of postage and payment for postage on unsecured systems, Kirincich said, and the new claims involve their use with NetStamps. The fourth patent at issue involves NetStamps’ ability to print postage on generic labels.
Unlike traditional PC postage, NetStamps do not expire within 24 hours and do not require that customers provide a specific recipient.
Stamps.com launched NetStamps in July after years of development and approval from the U.S. Postal Service.
Stamps.com, one of the few survivors of the dot-com bust, is doing well despite the long-running litigation with Pitney, Weisberg says.
“While we’d be happier not to be litigating against them ... it’s part of doing business until Pitney Bowes licenses our patents,” Weisberg said.
Shares of Stamps.com rose 20 cents to $4.60 in Nasdaq trading. Pitney Bowes shares fell 28 cents to $34 on the New York Stock Exchange.
