PORTLAND, Maine — Mapmaker DeLorme has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a $6.2 million penalty against it in a case that has drawn attention from some of the country’s largest consumer technology companies.
Those companies have said the case, as it stands, leaves the U.S. International Trade Commission with too much authority to pursue penalties for patent infringement allegations.
The case has another twist in that key claims of the allegedly violated patent have since been invalidated in a separate federal court case brought by DeLorme.
“The thought that they could penalize someone for importing parts that don’t infringe any patent — and that the patent is invalid — smacks of unfairness,” said Peter Brann, the attorney for DeLorme who led the case through federal court.
DeLorme and its sister satellite mapping company, InReach, filed their petition last week with the U.S. Supreme Court, which on Monday notified the First Circuit Court of the request.
The case began when the Virginia-based BriarTek Inc. filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission, alleging that an imported plastic belt clip used on DeLorme’s InReach devices “induced infringement” of part of its patent for a satellite communication system.
