Baseless IP Suit Over Global Entry, Green Cards Ends in Fees

On January 24, 2020, Finnegan secured a victory before the U.S. Court of Federal Claims on behalf of client HID Global Corp. The case is the first in awarding attorneys’ fees for a nonparty intervenor under 28 U.S. Code § 1498.

German technology company Giesecke & Devrient GmbH filed a patent infringement case involving technology used in global entry cards and green cards provided to the United States government. The complaint accused HID of infringing its contactless data carrier patent by complying with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards for machine-readable travel documents. HID disproved the accusations, pointing out that its products do not comply with ICAO standards, as there are different requirements for card-based products and enabled machine-readable travel documents. The court agreed, stating that Giesecke’s allegations were broad and their complaint failed to explain how compliance would imply infringement. With no prefiling investigation evidence submitted to support the assertion, the case was judged to be exceptional, and Giesecke was ordered to pay attorneys’ fees to HID.

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