SCOTUS Rejects Petition On Patent Case, In Favor Of GoDaddy

By Heather van Blokland
Published: Tuesday, December 12, 2017 - 7:14am
Updated: Tuesday, December 12, 2017 - 8:13am

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday refused to review a lower courts decision in a patent rights case against Scottsdale-based GoDaddy. Previous court decisions in favor of the tech-giant stand and are final and have implications for other major businesses.

GoDaddy was accused by RPost Communications, a patent holding company, of infringement for a patent that covered basic email tools like tracking and sending notification when an email is not delivered.

Lower courts found in favor of GoDaddy and RPost appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has now refused to hear the case, leaving the lower courts rulings standing.

Brian LaCorte is a partner with Ballard Spahr and lead attorney for GoDaddy. He said the impact from the ruling is bigger than this one case.

"RPost was suing a number of major companies ... Amazon, Adobe ... and they were suing on these same patents. By GoDaddy invalidating or striking down these patents, it favorably affects a number of other technology companies whose cases were on hold," LaCorte said.

LaCorte said other patent infringement cases will be dismissed or significantly reduced as a result of the Supreme Court's Decision in favor of GoDaddy.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This post has been updated to correct the spelling of Brian LaCorte's name.

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