NEW YORK, NY --(Marketwired - July 30, 2014) - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on July 25, 2014, issued a decision that vacates the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia's injunction and contempt orders against Lawson Software and instructs the lower court to dismiss the patent litigation case brought by ePlus, Inc. When ePlus commenced this lengthy litigation in 2009, it alleged infringement of multiple claims of three different patents, all but one claim of which was found to be non-infringed or invalid by the jury in 2011, or by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in a 2012 decision. In November 2013, the Federal Circuit unanimously affirmed a finding by the United States Patent and Trademark Office that ePlus' sole remaining patent claim also was invalid, following which the claim was cancelled.
With the last remaining ePlus patent claim canceled, the federal appeals court ruled on July 25, 2014 that "there is no longer any legal basis" for the injunction to continue, and that the civil contempt award "must be set aside." The federal appeals court returned the case to the lower court "with instructions to dismiss."
When the case is formally dismissed by the District Court, Lawson will have prevailed in every aspect of this litigation; the civil contempt award will be eliminated and Lawson, which was purchased by Infor, will be free to sell, market, service and support its procurement software without the threat of further efforts to disrupt its market position.
"We are pleased that we have prevailed in this long and arduous case," said Gregory Giangiordano, Infor senior vice president and general counsel. "Where other software companies chose to acquiesce to ePlus' litigation demands and settle meritless claims, Lawson -- now Infor -- on principle decided to contest ePlus' patent claims and stand up against the anti-competitive tactics that ePlus employed through the court system. This victory is for Infor, our customers, and for the industry."
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About Infor Infor is fundamentally changing the way information is published and consumed in the enterprise, helping 70,000 customers in more than 200 countries and territories improve operations, drive growth, and quickly adapt to changes in business demands. Infor offers deep industry-specific applications and suites, engineered for speed, and with an innovative user experience design that is simple, transparent, and elegant. Infor provides flexible deployment options that give customers a choice to run their businesses in the cloud, on-premises, or both. To learn more about Infor, please visit www.infor.com .
Infor customers include:
- 19 of the top 20 aerospace companies
- 12 of the top 13 high tech companies
- 10 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies
- 21 of the 25 largest US health delivery networks
- 16 of the 20 largest US cities
- 84 of the top 100 automotive suppliers
- 31 of the top 50 industrial distributors
- 5 of the top 9 brewers
For more information: Dan Barnhardt Infor 646-336-1731 dan.barnhardt@infor.com
