A Los Angeles-based digital postal service has lost several cases against Scottsdale-based GoDaddy and has now appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. the case and its appeals center around a dispute over patent law, and its implications on digital commerce.

RPost Communications' petition for a Supreme Court review was filed a week ago. RPost said patent law is too narrow and outdated for their modern filings, that describe a way of tracking and confirming delivery of email.

GoDaddy filed a lawsuit in 2014 after it received letters from RPost claiming some of its email products might be infringing.

A district judge in Arizona ruled in favor of GoDaddy, and a federal judge affirmed the ruling. 

The courts have said the patents are invalid because they cover nothing more than an abstract idea related to the collection of information and the delivery and opening of messages.

RPost said the courts are impacting the U.S. patent system and the rights of patent owners by not hearing hundreds of cases related to information technologies.