PORT TOWNSEND — Intellicheck Mobilisa Inc. is accused of breaking antitrust laws by competitor Eid Passport Inc., which filed a lawsuit against it in U.S. District Court on Monday.
The suit alleges anticompetitive and predatory conduct.
The CEO of Portland-based Eid Passport said the purpose of the filing was to even the playing field after Intellicheck Mobilisa, based in Port Townsend, acquired software company Positive Access Corp. on Sept. 1 and canceled the licensing contract Eid Passport held with Positive Access.
Intellicheck Mobilisa CEO Nelson Ludlow was unavailable for comment Tuesday.
A representative of the company said she did not know when the firm would release a statement about the lawsuit.
Eid Passport’s lawsuit alleges that Intellicheck Mobilisa engaged in unlawful activities by acquiring the specialized software company for the driver-license validation market with the purpose of cutting off Eid Passport’s access to the software required to create devices for driver-license validation for U.S. military installations — a business both companies are involved in.
“In this era of heightened security requirements at U.S. military facilities, we believe it is unconscionable for a company to try to squeeze legitimate competitors like Eid Passport out of a market that is intended to protect our armed forces, their families and the hard-working men and women who work on their bases,” said Eid Passport CEO Steve Larson.
“That is why we felt we had no choice but to file this antitrust lawsuit against Intellicheck Mobilisa.
“We must be allowed to fairly compete in this very important marketplace.
“We had been using Positive Access for some time and we were more than willing to license with Mobilisa.
“When they canceled on us that’s pretty much how this all got started.”
The suit also alleges that Intellicheck Mobilisa acquired Positive Access with a purpose of silencing Positive Access from asserting its claims of prior art over Intellicheck Mobilisa’s patents.
________
Jefferson County reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsula dailynews.com.
