Computerized Valet Parking Systems, Inc., the inventor and market leader of today's popular valet parking technology, filed a patent infringement law suit against Automated Valet Parking Manager LLC (AVPM). The legal action today will be used to enforce compliance regarding CVPS' patents involving the process of capturing the pre-existing physical condition of a vehicle in order to determine the origin of damage.
Detroit, MI (PRWEB) March 24, 2009 -- Computerized Valet Parking Systems, Inc. filed a patent infringement law suit against Automated Valet Parking Manager LLC (AVPM) in the U.S. District Court - Eastern District of Michigan (Detroit).
CVPS, known as the inventor and market leader of today's popular valet parking technology, developed the proprietary technology back in the mid-1990's, initially to better manage its own parking operations. "The idea of using a computerized valet parking system to manage a valet parking operation raised a lot of eye-brows back then and for the most part was viewed as somewhat comical or overkill. Since then, this technology has completely transformed the industry," said Kai Schuette, founder and CEO of CVPS.
"They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," said Andrew Preas, President of CVPS," but we're not in business to be flattered. We've heard from more than a few clients who've expressed surprise at how much the AVPM product resembles ours."
"We took all of the risk and have invested a lot of time and money into these innovative parking technologies that now save the industry millions of dollars every year. As such, we deserve the appropriate protection afforded by law," said Kai Schuette.
"Our legal action today will be used to enforce compliance. We are very serious about this issue. AVPM and its clients, who have been sold a bill of goods, will have to defend their transaction and risk being held liable for substantial damages. At the end of the day, we're more than happy to compete based on the merits of our product and the satisfaction of our clients," said Andrew Preas. "We certainly can't prevent people from trying to duplicate our successful model, but we won't tolerate blatant disregard of our intellectual property rights."
The lawsuit, "CVPS, Incorporated v. Automated Valet Parking Manager, LLC" (case number 2:2009cv11054) was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Southern Division and has been assigned to the Honorable Julian Cook. No trial date has been set.
CVPS received its first two patents (#5,710,557 and #6,630,893) in 1998 and 2001, covering over 63 claims including today's popular method of capturing the pre-existing physical condition of a vehicle in order to determine the origin of damage. Claim #3 (for example) of the '893 patent reads as follows:
"A method for managing a computerized valet parking system, the method comprising the steps of: linking pre-parking digital images of a vehicle to a first set of valet parking data in an electronic database, the pre-parking digital images documenting a physical condition of the vehicle when the vehicle is parked by a first valet attendant; retrieving the pre-parking digital images from the electronic database based on the first set of valet parking data; and determining whether damage occurred to the vehicle before the first valet attendant parked the vehicle based on the pre-parking digital images."
In March of 2008, CVPS received news that its application to broaden the '893 had been examined and allowed by the U.S. Patent Office. Throughout the 2 year application review process, the U.S. Patent office also examined several claims by others, seeking to invalidate the original '557 patent. The examiner found no merit and voided claims of prior art, further strengthening and underlining CVPS's patent validity.
About Computerized Valet Parking Systems, Inc.
Computerized Valet Parking Systems, Inc. (CVPS) is the inventor of today's popular high tech valet parking management system. Designed by an operator with over 25 years of valet parking management experience, CVPS provides the tools to move traditional valet parking operations to a new plateau. A valet operator can use CVPS to provide superior VIP customer service, streamline operations, minimize damage claims, track operations, and quantify employee performance.
CVPS is a technology solutions provider with close to 400 installations in most major cities across the US, Canada, Australia and Dubai. Client locations include casinos, hotels, airports, office buildings, off airport parking, shopping malls, residential communities - most every possible parking application.
Service Tracking Systems, Inc. is the parent company of Computerized Valet Parking Systems, Inc.
For more information, visit us at Servicetrackingsystems.net.
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[Via Legal / Law]
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