AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2018 - 38

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uAvionix sued for patent
infringement
Garmin claims company appropriated its technology
BY MIKE COLLINS

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GARMIN HAS FILED a lawsuit against uAvionix-which makes Automatic Dependent
Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and other avionics, including an easily installed wing-tipmounted solution that it says is nearing FAA Technical Standard Order approval-alleging
patent infringement. uAvionix disputes the allegation and said the suit will not affect its
certification or delivery of ADS-B hardware.
The lawsuit, filed June 19 in uAvionix's home state of Montana, seeks a judgment that
the company willfully infringed Garmin's patent; injunctions preventing uAvionix from
infringing the patent; damages; and legal fees.
The complaint states that uAvionix has used patented technology Garmin calls
AutoSquawk, which automatically parses information required by ADS-B from the aircraft's existing transponder. Garmin uses the technology in its GDL-82, GDL-84, and
GDL-88 universal access transceivers, which send and receive ADS-B data on 978 MHz.
Garmin does not license this technology, covered by U.S. Patent No. 8,102,301, according to the complaint.
"Garmin sought to resolve this dispute without resorting to litigation," and repeatedly
asked uAvionix to explain why its products did not infringe Garmin's patent, according
to the complaint. Eventually, Garmin purchased a "redesigned" uAvionix product and
determined that it still violates Garmin's patent, the complaint states. "uAvionix's disregard of Garmin's patent rights left it with no other recourse but to file this lawsuit."
"I cannot comment on ongoing litigation," said a Garmin spokeswoman when asked
for additional information about the case.
In a statement posted on its website, uAvionix says it does not infringe the Garmin
patent in question. "uAvionix has our own patent-pending method for using Mode 3/A
and altitude information that differs from the method in the 301 Patent. We invite you to
see for yourself. Ultimately the court and industry will decide whether we are innovators or infringers," the statement said.
uAvionix said it recognizes that disruptive products often attract unwanted attention
from incumbents, adding, "We just want the world to know that we take intellectual property rights seriously. We are innovators with integrity, and we are defending that integrity.
We also want to make a clear statement that this suit in no way impacts our ability to certify and ship any of our products, including skyBeacon and tailBeacon."
uAvionix has said that it expects FAA TSO approval of its easily installed skyBeacon
wingtip position light and ADS-B transmitter in the near future, and plans to submit
tailBeacon-a similar product designed to install in place of an aircraft's aft position
light-for TSO approval shortly after skyBeacon's TSO is received. For updates to this
story, visit aopa.org.
EMAIL mike.collins@aopa.org

38 | AOPA PILOT October 2018

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - October 2018