NJ Transit Patent Immunity Claim Crosses Circuit-Court Divide

The tracks linking New York to New Jersey in tunnels beneath the Hudson River traverse a judicial divide that could determine whether New Jersey Transit Corp. is shielded from allegations it’s using patented railworker-safety technology without permission.

The transportation authority is fighting Railware Inc.'s allegations that its dispatch system infringes three patents, urging a New York federal court to dismiss the lawsuit because NJ Transit says it’s immune as “an arm of the State of New Jersey.”

New Jersey, where the rail system is incorporated, is under the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which has previously ruled ...