Retired Georgia Tech Professor Is Suing Uber, Lyft For Patent Infringement

McGruber shares a report from American City Business Journals: A retired Georgia Tech professor is suing ride-sharing giant Uber, claiming he invented the technology that 'is absolutely core to the way in which Uber operates its business.' In a complaint filed May 31 in federal court, Stephen Dickerson charges that Uber is infringing on a patent he won in 2004 for a 'communications and computing based urban transit system.' 'The core of Uber's business and technical platforms for its rideshare, bikeshare, and scooter sharing services practice the transportation system of Professor Dickerson's invention; without that system, Uber literally cannot operate. Throughout its existence, Uber has egregiously infringed [Dickerson's] patent without paying any compensation for such use,' Dickerson's lawsuit alleges. Last July, Dickerson sued Lyft in federal court in New York, making the same allegations he is making against Uber. In a court filing, Lyft denies it infringed on Dickerson's technology. The lawsuit is continuing. To clarify, Dickerson's company, RideApp, filed the suit because it 'developed in 1999 the idea of bringing cell phones, the global positioning system and digital payments together to get people around congested Atlanta,' reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The patent was apparently owned by Georgia Tech, but the college failed to act on it and reassigned the patent back to him in 2018.

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