Fish & Richardson Wins Federal Circuit Affirmance for USAA

Fish & Richardson won a Federal Circuit case for United Services Automobile Association (USAA), affirming that a patent asserted against the company is invalid. In its September 11, 2018 Order, the Federal Circuit upheld the Eastern District of Virginia's July 2016 dismissal of the patent infringement case, Asghari-Kamrani v. USAA, after the district court found U.S. Patent No. 8,266,432 invalid as directed to no more than an abstract idea and thus ineligible for patent protection under 35 U.S.C. 101.

The case dates back to October 2015 when brothers Nader and Kamran Asghari-Kamrani accused USAA of infringing their '432 patent because of the manner in which USAA members can log on to USAA's website. The Asghari brothers, principals of Delphinus Technology in Centreville, Virginia, demanded massive damages.

"This is a huge victory for our client USAA and for the entire industry. The Asghari brothers have threatened many other companies with this patent, from financial services entities to IT security firms, and we are thrilled that the Federal Circuit has confirmed the invalidity of this patent. We were especially gratified that during oral argument the court put the Asghari brothers on notice that the entire patent family should be considered invalid under Alice," said Fish & Richardson principal Michael Zoppo, who served as lead counsel for USAA.

The Fish team representing USAA also included Ahmed J. Davis, Matthew Berntsen,and Grant Rice.