Court Declines to Toss Background-Check IP, Antitrust Suit (1)

A background-check company must defend against competitor Guardian Alliance Technologies Inc.'s claims it engaged in fraud as it sought patents relating to its software and violated antitrust law through meritless patent litigation against Guardian’s clients, including local law enforcement agencies.

Judge William B. Shubb largely denied Miller Mendel Inc.'s motion to dismiss Guardian’s suit in an opinion filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California. Shubb dismissed trade libel and false advertising claims, but denied the effort to toss claims that the patents were unenforceable due to inequitable conduct and that the patents were invalid, ...