ChargePoint v. SemaConnect Hearing on Dec. 22, 2017

There was a hearing today in the ChargePoint v. SemaConnect patent lawsuit in US District Court in Baltimore. I was able to attend the hearing, which was open to the public.

ChargePoint’s legal counsel argued vigorously in support of their Motion for Emergency Injunctive Relief, asserting that “irreparable harm” was being caused by SemaConnect’s participation in the Electrify America program to install hundreds of charging stations that ChargePoint alleges infringes on patents that they hold.

The judge expressed concern that issuing an order for SemaConnect to stop would cause irreparable harm to SemaConnect. The judge also said he was concerned that by ordering SemaConnect to stop, the American public would be denied access to 1,440 EV charging stations that SemaConnect plans to install with Electrify America and that’s not in the public’s interest.

For now, SemaConnect can continue to move forward on the Electrify America project. SemaConnect and presumably, Electrify America, will be moving forward under the risk that ChargePoint may ultimately prevail in their patent infringement claim.

SemaConnect is expected to file a motion by January 8, 2018 to attempt to show that ChargePoint’s patents are invalid under the “Alice test” and therefore there can be no infringement.

A hearing on that matter is expected in late January, 2018.

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