Fleet management pioneer Omnitracs has filed a motion for a retrial after a jury found competitor Motive not guilty of patent infringement, according to court documents. Omnitracs originally sued Motive in October 2023, alleging Motive infringed on several patents related to fleet management systems.
After a nearly two-year legal battle, a jury delivered a unanimous verdict on April 25, finding Motive not guilty. At the time, Motive’s chief legal officer Shu White said Omnitracs “chose to wrongfully accuse us of patent infringement, instead of investing their time to build better and more innovative products to serve their customers.”
However, in a 33-page motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Omnitracs claims Motive’s conduct during the trial was prejudicial. According to the motion, which was obtained by truck industry publication FreightWaves, Omnitracs alleges that Motive made improper and irrelevant assertions that prejudiced the jury.
Omnitracs further alleges that Motive violated court orders regarding the disclosure of their legal investigation and made racial and religious insinuations during cross-examination of an Omnitracs expert witness. Omnitracs contends these actions prevented a fair trial.
For its part, Motive serves more than 100,000 customers, including Halliburton, KONE, Komatsu, NBC Universal and Maersk.
Presiding U.S. District Judge Rita Lin is expected to respond to Omnitracs’ motion this week.
