LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - February 24, 2011) - RPost®, the Registered Email® Company, sued Swiss Post in the Commercial Court of Zurich requesting preliminary injunctive relief for infringing two RPost European telecommunications method and device patents. RPost has asked the Commercial Court of Zurich to issue an injunction against Swiss Post to prevent further damages.
RPost's flagship Registered Email® service has provided senders legally valid, court admissible evidence of email content, delivery and timestamp, since its first US Federal Government customers started using the service commercially in 2003. RPost has offered the service in Switzerland since 2004 in both Zurich and Geneva, providing both RPost-German and RPost-French service to customers.
Swiss Post's actions are deliberate. In 2010, RPost sued Swiss Post for patent infringement in the United States. Swiss Post settled under confidential terms. Swiss Post ignored key provisions of the settlement, forcing RPost to separately file a new lawsuit in California in December to once again ask the US Federal Courts to enforce RPost's United States patent rights.
"It has become quite apparent from Swiss Post's actions in the United States that Swiss Post does not respect patent law. We will now see if Swiss Post executives feel that they are above the law in Switzerland," comments Zafar Khan, CEO of RPost. "To put it simply, this is a matter of an agency of the Swiss Government using Swiss taxpayer dollars to knowingly and unlawfully use RPost's intellectual property."
The Swiss legal system differs from that in the United States. In Switzerland, one must present the full case for infringement to the extent possible in the first filing, with one shot at convincing the court to issue preliminary injunctive relief. The request for a preliminary injunction in Switzerland is often initiated before the ordinary action for a permanent injunction and damages is filed. "There are significant financial and legal hurdles when defending one's intellectual property outside of the United States," adds Khan. "Taking on Swiss Post in their home territory is a show of our absolute confidence in not only the strength of our patents, but also the depth of our analysis of Swiss Post's infringement."
RPost's lengthy and technical court filing focuses on describing the infringement of RPost patents by Swiss Post's new Incamail service, as well as that by earlier versions of the service. The request claims infringement by Swiss companies Die Schweizerische Post of Bern, SwissSign of Zurich, Swiss Post Solutions AG of Zürich, and Totemo AG of Küsnacht.
"We do not understand why the Swiss Post would jeopardize its reputation by allowing its executives to operate in this reckless manner. Unfortunately, Swiss Post's actions now put their users, partners and other postal services considering Swiss Post technology at considerable risk," Khan says. "A word of caution to users and partners of Swiss Post services: we intend to vigorously defend all of our intellectual property, everywhere." RPost's filing clearly describes the infringement and specifies that any company employing Swiss Post rules to route certain messages to Swiss Post servers for processing would expose the sending company employing those rules to patent infringement claims.
RPost has business alliances with other national postal services. It has entered into joint ventures with the government postal services of Colombia, Bermuda, Iceland, and the Cayman Islands to provide Registered Email services to their national markets. RPost has continued to innovate and extend its products, which now include leading electronic signature, encryption, and advanced collaboration services that run on the Registered Email service platform.
RPost's 31 patents granted worldwide have priority over technology dating back to 1995. These patents broadly cover the technologies of verifiable proof for email delivery and value-added outbound email processing. RPost patents have been granted with validity in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States, with numerous additional patents pending. RPost's US federally registered trademarks include 'Registered Email®,' 'RMail®' and 'Legal Proof®,' among others.
About RPost
RPost has set the global standard for proof, privacy, and e-signatures with its flagship Registered Email® delivery proof, eSignOff® electronic signature, and SecuRmail™ encrypted email services that permit the sender and recipient to prove, sign, secure, record and collaborate with far less cost, time, paper and risk. RPost services have been used daily by the U.S. Government since 2003 and have been endorsed and marketed by most of the influential bar associations in the United States, including those of New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta and the District of Columbia. RPost also has worldwide partnerships with innovative postal services, communications and technology platform providers to offer electronic communications, transactions and integrated services. RPost received the 2010 Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers' top endorsement for its secure encrypted email service. www.rpost.com