Smartmatic fends off appeal in patent lawsuit by voting machine rival

Oct 15 (Reuters) - Voting technology company Smartmatic convinced a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday to uphold its win against a patent infringement lawsuit brought by rival Election Systems & Software.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed without comment a Delaware federal judge's decision to dismiss ES&S's lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Richard Andrews said last year that the last remaining ES&S patent in the case was invalid.

Spokespeople and attorneys for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision.

Omaha, Nebraska-based ES&S sued the U.S. branch of London-based Smartmatic in 2018. It said Smartmatic infringed two patents covering improved voter-assistance terminals and ballot-marking devices for physically disabled voters.

ES&S dropped one of the patents from the case in 2022. Andrews ruled last April that the remaining patent related to the abstract idea of "giving voters a choice of returning or depositing their ballot."

ES&S told the Federal Circuit that the Delaware court had oversimplified its invention. The appeals court held oral arguments in the case last week.

Smartmatic is separately pursuing a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News over the network's airing of debunked claims that the company helped rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election for Joe Biden over Donald Trump. Smartmatic settled related lawsuits against Newsmax and One America News earlier this year.

The patent case is Election Systems & Software LLC v. Smartmatic USA Corp, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 23-1949.