Visalia is one of the latest targets of federal patent-infringement claims over vehicle-tracking technology on city bus systems.
ArrivalStar S.A., a company incorporated in Luxembourg, has filed about 180 lawsuits across the U.S. since 2006 against manufacturers, software companies, retailers, transportation companies and, more recently, local government transit agencies to enforce a range of patents it holds. That includes about 50 cases that have been filed just in the first six months of this year.
But many public systems have settled by paying a license fee.
The most recent suit was filed last week against Visalia and the Bay Area city of Vacaville in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento. ArrivalStar and a related company, British Virgin Islands-based Melvino Technologies, allege that both cities’ transit buses use vehicle-tracking and passenger-notification technology that infringe on their patents.
