Sounds like DGLY and AAXN will have a day in court to decide the patent issue.
Digital Ally's patents cases against Taser, WatchGuard advance after surviving 5 challenges
By James Dornbrook – Reporter, Kansas City Business Journal Jul 10, 2018, 1:16pm Digital Ally Inc. successfully defended five challenges to its patents and now has switched to offense, pressing forward with intellectual property lawsuits against two of its largest rivals.
The Lenexa-based manufacturer (Nasdaq: DGLY) filed suit against Taser in January 2016 and WatchGuard Video in May 2016, accusing the law enforcement body camera systems of infringing on technology covered by Digital Ally's patents. The technology automates activation of the camera system when specified triggers — such as turning on emergency lights — occur.
The successful defense of its patents was huge for Digital Ally. Aside from the federal court in Kansas now lifting stays on its patent infringement lawsuits against competitors, it gives Digital Ally a stronger position to land lucrative contracts to equip police forces around the nation. Some cities, such as Phoenix, add language to their requests for proposals that require all technology to be free of claims for "infringement or misappropriation of patent, copyright, trade secret, trademark or other rights arising under the laws of the United States."
That means the body camera systems offered by two of its largest competitors — Taser-maker Axon Enterprises Inc. (Nasdaq: AAXN) and Enforcement Video LLC, which does business as WatchGuard — currently don't qualify for any contract containing that language.
Digital Ally asked for a permanent injunction against Taser and WatchGuard's systems that infringe on its patents, and if that is granted, it could create all kinds of issues for cities that have contracts with those companies.
Digital Ally also is asking the court for a reasonable royalty and compensation to cover damages such as lost profits, costs and expenses.
"This has been a long and trying battle as both Axon and WatchGuard have done everything they can to prevent these cases from moving forward," Digital Ally CEO Stanton Ross said in a Thursday release. "We have remained confident in the judicial system and patient with the process, and we are finally seeing movement towards the finish line. I hope that law enforcement agencies across the country will pay attention to these developments and consider the implications of these lawsuits and a potential injunction when equipping their officers with body cameras from companies that infringe our patents."
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