WASHINGTON (CN) - The Federal Circuit affirmed the invalidity of a patent held by a telecommunications company that developed a way to take advantage of the cost difference between making and receiving long-distance calls from foreign countries.
Cygnus Telecommunications Technology used a black box - and later a computer - to terminate a call and then return it in order to take advantage of a lower domestic rate.
The district court ruled that the patent was invalid because the product was sold before the patent date, and Judge Bryson agreed.
"Cygnus simply failed to offer sufficient evidence before the district court to undermine the force of (the inventor's) sworn admission regarding the date that he reduced his invention to practice," Bryson ruled.
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