Securus Successfully Defends Patent Validity Against Global Tel*Link (GTL)

DALLAS, Oct. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On October 7, 2015, the United States Patent and Trademark Office – Patent Trial and Appeal Board ("PTAB") ruled in favor of Securus and against Global Tel*Link's (GTL) petition to invalidate a Securus patent. The disputed patent was Patent: 6,636,591 B1 before Administrative Patent Judges Kevin F. Turner, Barbara A. Benoit, and Georgianna W. Braden. On October 7, 2015, the Judges issued a final written decision that indicated that GTL has not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that ten (10) claims were unpatentable.  The patent in question is titled "System and Method for Affecting Inmate Conduct with Good Behavior Discount Telephone Rates." This patent encouraged inmates to exhibit good behavior by rewarding them with discounted phone call rates.

"I am encouraged that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has ruled in our favor and has upheld our patent," said Richard A. ("Rick") Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Securus Technologies. "GTL had requested the Patent Trial and Appeal Board invalidate approximately 18 of our patents – two (2) have been invalidated and one (1) has been upheld – those are ratios that we expected, so no surprises there."

"GTL has seized upon these recent changes in how a patent is evaluated, and the newly instituted use of the PTAB for review purposes, to file 18 petitions seeking invalidation of Securus patents – patents that were previously reviewed, approved and issued by the USPTO," said Smith. "Given recent changes in the law, and a more lenient standard of review, we now expect that some of our previously approved and issued patents could be invalidated by a different arm of the same governmental organization that issued them. Not because they are 'bad patents' – but rather because the criteria for their evaluation has changed. However, we will aggressively defend each and every one. Ultimately – the number of patent invalidations that GTL seeks is irrelevant to me – it just does not matter because they cannot invalidate our entire existing patent portfolio AND the extensive number of pending patents that we have will keep them busy for years at a very high cost to them. If we do have a patent invalidated, it does not mean that we cannot use the technology that we created, all it means is that it is now invalid and others can use it without a license agreement.  There will be no change in how we operate at all. So other than the good potential press for GTL, I am indifferent to that outcome, and it does not affect our operations at all. If GTL is successful in invalidating all that they have filed for, we will have 92.2% of all issued and pending patents still in place."

Securus Technologies enjoys a significant advantage in patents approved and pending metrics over GTL – see the following metrics:

"Patents are important to Securus and being a patent leader in our sector is important – but they represent only one measure of our technology leadership. Having the largest corrections-based VoIP platform in the world; having the largest product set – over 750 products; having our own domestic call center with  our own associates versus outsourcing this function; having our own field technicians and not outsourcing that strategic area; having more IT professionals developing strategic products  than anyone else; owning more high tech companies that make society safer; having satisfied customers for a very long time – with good references – all of these are why our company is the industry leader," said Smith. "Ultimately, keeping all of society safer, with a high level of business integrity are the best measures of who we are."

"I look forward to defending our patent portfolio against GTL," said Smith. "It is likely to be a long process – but the metrics are clearly on our side."

ABOUT SECURUS TECHNOLOGIES

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and serving more than 3,450 public safety, law enforcement and corrections agencies and over 1,200,000 inmates across North America, Securus Technologies is committed to serve and connect by providing emergency response, incident management, public information, investigation, biometric analysis, communication, information management, inmate self-service, and monitoring products and services in order to make our world a safer place to live.  Securus Technologies focuses on connecting what matters^®.  To learn more about our full suite of civil and criminal justice technology solutions, please visit SecurusTechnologies.com.

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SOURCE Securus Technologies, Inc.

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