Federal Circuit Affirms Government’s E-Passport Patent Win

Iris Corporation Berhad failed to convince the Federal Circuit to revive its patent suit against the U.S. government over electronic passports, suffering another blow in its long-running court battles over the technology.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court’s decision finding the federal government didn’t infringe Iris’ U.S. Patent No. 6,111,506. The patent covers a method for making a passport embedded with an electronic chip that has biographical information about the owner.

Iris’ appeal turned on the interpretation of a particular term in the patent. The Federal Circuit said the lower court didn’t ...