Digital Ally Announces Patent Office has Rejected IPR in its Litigation Against Enforcement Video, LLC d/b/a WatchGuard Video...
December 04 2017 - 7:00AM
The Patent Office Has Rejected WatchGuard’s
Request to Invalidate One of the Three Patents Asserted Against It
and Digital Will Now Seek an Expedited Path to Trial
Digital Ally, Inc. (NASDAQ: DGLY) today announced that the United
States Patent Office has rejected the request of Enforcement Video,
LLC (d/b/a WatchGuard Video) to institute an inter partes review
(“IPR”) on U.S. Patent No. 9,325,950 (“the ‘950 Patent”). The ‘950
Patent is asserted against WatchGuard in a patent infringement
lawsuit pending in the U.S. District Court in Kansas.
The lawsuit also involves U.S. Patent Nos. 8,781,292 (“the ‘292
Patent”) and 9,253,452 (“the ‘452 Patent”), the same two patents
asserted against Axon Enterprise, Inc. (“Axon,” formerly known as
TASER International, Inc.). Digital’s lawsuit against WatchGuard
claims infringement of these three patents by WatchGuard’s VISTA
WiFi® body camera and its 4RE® Digital HD Panoramic In-Car
System. Digital is seeking both damages and an injunction
preventing the sale of these products.
WatchGuard previously had agreed to be bound by
the Patent Office’s decisions on Axon’s IPRs relating to the ‘452
Patent and ‘292 Patent. The U.S. Patent Office has recently
rejected three of Axon’s four petitions after it determined that
Axon failed to demonstrate even a reasonable likelihood of
invalidating the underlying patents in its IPR petitions, and
therefore such IPR’s were dismissed. The Patent Office’s
decision on the ‘950 Patent yet again confirms the strength and
validity of Digital Ally’s patents, which have now survived
multiple attempts by both Axon and WatchGuard to invalidate
them.
WatchGuard is now barred from filing any further
IPRs on any of the three patents asserted against it meaning the
practical availability of WatchGuard’s litigation defenses are now
severely limited. The U.S. District Court stayed the litigation
while the determination of these IPRs was pending. In light
of the denials of these IPRs by the Patent Office, Digital now
plans to seek to lift the stay in the WatchGuard litigation and
will request an expedited schedule to trial.
“The validity of our patents has repeatedly been
upheld despite an onslaught of attacks from both Axon and
WatchGuard,” said Digital’s CEO, Stanton E. Ross. “This ruling
is a wonderful testament to the work done by our employees at
Digital and a confirmation of what we have been telling our
shareholders about the litigation,” stated Ross. “In both the Axon
and the WatchGuard litigation we will seek to move forward as
quickly as possible. Our goal is to obtain a permanent injunction
that will require the removal of these products and the infringing
features from the market. If we are successful with obtaining an
injunction, I would caution the customers of Axon and WatchGuard
that we intend to pursue all available legal options for removing
and/or de-activating unlicensed infringing features from existing
products in the field,” concluded Ross.
About Digital AllyDigital
Ally®, headquartered in Lenexa, KS, specializes in the design and
manufacturing of the highest quality video recording equipment and
video analytic software. Digital Ally pushes the boundaries of
technology in industries such as law enforcement, emergency
management, commercial fleets, and consumer use. Digital Ally’s
complete product solutions include in-car and body cameras, cloud
and local management software, and automatic recording technology.
These products work seamlessly together and are simple to install
and operate. Digital Ally products are sold by domestic direct
sales representatives and international distributors worldwide.
This press release contains forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934. These
forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations or
forecasts of future events, can be affected by inaccurate
assumptions, and are subject to various business risks and known
and unknown uncertainties, a number of which are beyond the control
of management. Therefore, actual results could differ materially
from the forward-looking statements contained in this press
release. A wide variety of factors that may cause actual results to
differ from the forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, the following: whether the Company will achieve
positive outcomes in its patent litigation against various parties,
including Axon Enterprise, Inc. and WatchGuard; whether the Patent
Office rulings will curtail, eliminate or otherwise have an effect
on the actions of Axon, WatchGuard and other parties respecting
Digital Ally, its products and customers; whether the Company will
be able to obtain permanent injunctions against Axon and
WatchGuard; competition from larger, more established companies
with far greater economic and human resources; its ability to
attract and retain customers and quality employees; the effect of
changing economic conditions; and changes in government
regulations, tax rates and similar matters. These cautionary
statements should not be construed as exhaustive or as any
admission as to the adequacy of the Digital’s disclosures. It
cannot predict or determine after the fact what factors would cause
actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the
forward-looking statements or other statements. The reader should
consider statements that include the words "believes", "expects",
"anticipates", "intends", "estimates", "plans", "projects",
"should", or other expressions that are predictions of or indicate
future events or trends, to be uncertain and forward-looking.
Digital Ally does not undertake to publicly update or revise
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise. Additional information respecting
factors that could materially affect the Digital and its operations
are contained in its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended
December 31, 2016 and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three
and nine months ended September 30, 2017, as filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact Information
Stanton Ross, CEO
Tom Heckman, CFO
Digital Ally, Inc
913-814-7774
info@digitalallyinc.com
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