The Hindu Business Line : Satyam loses patent related case in UK; may appeal against order

Hyderabad, May 14 IT services provider Satyam Computer Services today said that it was exploring the option to appeal after the company lost a jurisdiction case relating to patent infringement and forgery filed by Upaid Systems (formerly Intouch Technologies).

The case concerns patents for products developed by the Satyam design team for Upaid Systems, wherein the latter alleged infringement. Upaid is a British Virgin Islands company engaged in mobile payment services.

When contacted, the CFO of Satyam, Mr V. Srinivas, told Business Line that the work for the client company was completed in 2002 and that an amount had been paid to Satyam for services rendered. However, Upaid applied for patents for the said products but was not successful in obtaining patents. Two employees of Satyam who were part of the design team had since moved on.

In 2006, Upaid filed certain claims of infringement against some companies in the US. In the proceedings, the two former employees of Satyam denied signing the patent assignment documents.

Aggrieved, Upaid filed the current case against Satyam in a Texas court in 2007 to declare its patent valid and sought damages from Satyam. Satyam in turn filed a petition in London since it contended that the jurisdiction lay there.

However, the courts in London have now ruled that the case in Texas could continue and be heard based on an earlier agreement with Upaid. This has meant that the jurisdiction has been decided and the case can go on in the Texas court, hearings for which are likely to begin in 2009.

Asked about the forgery related allegation, he said Satyam had nothing to do with the documents and the patent filings as those were done by Upaid. The two employees had left the company to join Qualcomm and Verizon. With regard to the amount claimed as damages, he said thus far there had been no claim for any specific amount.

Mr Srinivas said the case is in preliminary stage and has to undergo the process on merits. It is also premature to quantify the potential damage as the matter is sub-judice.

PTI reports: Hailing the order Upaid said the decision confirms an earlier High Court judgment in favour of Upaid on all points. Upaid spokesperson said: “We think this case is of considerable importance... The damage done to Upaid has been made even worse by the time wasted in London. But, with the London issues out of the way, we can now look forward to dealing with what really matters in Texas, where the forgeries first came to light.”

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