Seattle City Wire

The Washington County Sheriff's Office faces an alleged patent infringement lawsuit from Miller Mendel, Inc., company attornies said in a February release.

The Miller Mendel suit focuses on the Guardian Alliance Technologies background investigation software and is the second such suit filed against a law enforcement agency since 2018, the company said. Miller Mendel previously took the Oklahoma City Police Department to court over the agency's use of the same software.

Behind the suit, Miller Mendel is alleging that the Sheriff's Office knew of the patent in question but continued with the software's use despite that knowledge, the release said. Miller Mendel alleges that doing so constitutes a willful infringement of the patent.

In the background of the legal disputes with law enforcement agencies, Miller Mendel has also been engaged in legal action with Guardian Alliance Technologies, the release said. Whereas Guardian Alliance Technologies has made efforts to challenge the 188 Patent in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the patent at the heart of the dispute. Miller Mendel has also filed a complaint against Guardian Alliance Technologies in Oklahoma Federal District Court for defamation.

So far, the efforts of Guardian Alliance Technologies to challenge the Miller Mendel patent's validity have not been successful, the release said.

In March 2020, USPTO judges denied an Inter Partes Review request by Guardian Alliance Technologies. Later in July, the USPTO Patent Trial and Appeal Board denied a request by Guardian Alliance Technologies for a rehearing.

Miller Mendel also warned other agencies contemplating the use of the Guardian Alliance Technologies background investigation software.

"Miller Mendel will continue to take enforcement action for patent infringement against additional parties, as necessary to protect its intellectual property rights," the release states.