ST.LOUIS – St. Louis laundry service Washateria LLC is named in a lawsuit recently filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri alleging the cashless cards Washateria uses for cashless and coinless laundry services are a direct violation of a patent owned by a British Virgin Islands company.
Upaid Systems Ltd. filed the patent infringement complaint June 1 alleging violations of patent law, Title 35 of the U.S. Code. Upaid has been in operation since 1999, and the complaint states they hold 60 patents, including U.S. Patent No. 8,976,947 (the ’947 patent) that they claim Washateria is infringing upon.
The complaint details the many years spent developing the patents that led to the ‘947 patent, which Upaid states was in examinations by the U.S. Patent Office for seven years before the patent was issued in 2015. The complaint states that “the research and development cost of bringing the inventions to the point of reduction to practice and creating the end product … was over $12 million.”
The '947 patent is an enhanced transaction platform that “enables the operation of advanced communications services regardless of equipment or network hardware limitations … improves the functions of the advanced communications services and the functions of the external networks on which the advanced communications services operate and gives users the ability to utilize advanced communication services, regardless of the user’s location," the filing said.
Upaid claims Washateria uses several automated payment systems, specifically LaundryCard, FasCard, and/or FasCard Mobile App.
The FasCard system “accepts any combination of coins, credit or debit cards, and loyalty cards for use in laundromats as well as other vending machines,”and the FasCard Mobile App allows customers to use their cellphones to “view machine availability … to remotely start machines … to select a location, (and) to add value to their accounts,” the suit said.
The LaundryCard system focuses on “automating (one’s) laundromat by eliminating coin, handling all cash collections, employee management, equipment service, store marketing,” the suit said.
Upaid claims that Washateria knowingly uses these systems that are a direct violation of the '947 patent and willfully continues to use these systems, resulting in substantially larger profits from selling the cash cards and keeping the unused money on the cards with less security or maintenance expenses. The complaint states that by Washateria continuing to use the systems that “embody or practice the inventions claimed in the ’947 patent,” Upaid has suffered injury and is entitled to damages.
Upaid is asking for a trial by jury and is seeking a permanent injunction against Washateria and a court ruling to order Washateria to pay enhanced damages, court costs and attorney’s fees, as well as post-judgment interest.
Upaid is represented by John M. Challis of Polsinelli PC of St. Louis.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, Case Number 4:18-cv-00834-DDN