BriarTek's patent claims relating to 2-way Satellite Emergency Notification Devices (SENDs) have been invalidated in a federal court ruling that granted summary judgement to Delorme. While the ruling makes interesting reading, if you are so inclined ( Click here for links to the ruling download or viewing), the bottom line from District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema was that "all the asserted claims have been found to be invalid as a matter of law over the prior art, either as anticipated or as obvious," and therefore BriarTek’s patent was invalid.

BriarTek’s patent claims threatened to strangle expansion and innovation is this increasingly popular distress beacon market. At best, the patent claims would increase the cost of the devices for consumers, which inevitably discourage purchase and their subsequent use to save lives.

Full story at: http://www.equipped.org/blog/?p=504