Fresh from last week’s lawsuit filing against E-Stamp, Pitney Bowes Inc. Friday announced a similar patent infringement suit against Stamps.com Inc.
Stamps.com is currently testing products which allow users to buy and print out postage over the Internet. E-Stamp is developing a similar offering.
While Stamps.com has not officially responded to the filing, E-Stamp denies any wrongdoing and announced it intends to fight its lawsuit.
Pitney Bowes has patented many of its postage inventions and said it is moving to protect its intellectual property as stamps and mail metering move onto the Internet.
The postage meter inventor says it is open to licensing its services to its various online postage competitors.
“Pitney Bowes has attempted to reach a negotiated solution with Stamps.com to avoid litigation and allow them to use Pitney Bowes patented inventions in their product,” said Pitney spokeswoman Sheryl Battles. “Though we have met and exchanged correspondence over a significant period of time, agreement was not reached on the outstanding issues.”
The online postage market is forecast to hit $700 million in the next five years.
