Latest news with #Omnitracs
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Motive says court has no basis to grant Omnitracs' request for retrial
Motive is fighting a motion by Omnitracs for a new trial in a copyright infringement case. In seeking a retrial, Omnitracs claimed Motive used prejudiced religious and racial insinuations in court. Motive's response, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Thursday, stated that the jury's verdict was supported by 'substantial evidence,' and that competing fleet technology company Omnitracs did not meet legal standards necessary to overturn the verdict or mandate a new trial. After a nearly two-year legal battle between Omnitracs and Motive, a federal jury unanimously found on April 24 that Motive was not guilty of copyright infringement. A week later, Omnitracs filed a motion for a retrial, arguing that Motive 'relied on a host of improper and irrelevant assertions designed to prejudice the jury against Omnitracs' because one of the jurors was 'presumably Muslim' and wore a head covering. 'In lieu of actual non-infringement evidence, Motive relied on a host of improper and irrelevant assertions designed to prejudice the jury against Omnitracs,' stated Omnitracs' motion for a retrial. 'When cross examining Omnitracs' technical expert, for instance, Motive lobbed an accusation that Omnitracs (and its witness) were racially and religiously insensitive for not explaining that Motive's co-founder allegedly used an American-sounding email alias to avoid discrimination from truck drivers against Muslim[s].' 'There may not be a more prejudicial statement to make to a jury in the Northern District of California, particularly when one of the jurors was born and raised in and wore a head scarf every day of trial.' Additionally, Omnitracs claimed that Motive violated court orders regarding the disclosure of Motive's legal investigation. In Thursday's response, Motive stated that its cross-examination of an Omnitracs expert about a Motive employee who used an American-sounding alias rather than the employee's real name 'to better interface with truckers' was supported by the record, 'did not violate any stipulation, and was not prejudicial.' 'Accordingly, such testimony does not even come close to a 'miscarriage of justice' and provides no basis for a new trial,' Motive stated. Motive also disputed Omnitracs' allegation that it violated the court's pretrial order when asking a witness a question that 'revealed text had been redacted' from a letter between Motive and an individual in October 2018. 'This allegation is demonstrably false,' Motive stated. '[The witness'] testimony is consistent with the unredacted portions of the letter. Critically, these redactions … were agreed by the parties. Additionally, Plaintiffs themselves admitted the October 15, 2018 letter into evidence.' 'Thus, not only did Plaintiffs not object, but they also admitted the evidence [that] they now allege prejudiced them,' Motive continued. 'This alone precludes awarding a new trial.' The post Motive says court has no basis to grant Omnitracs' request for retrial appeared first on FreightWaves.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Omnitracs files motion for retrial over Motive copyright case
Omnitracs has filed a motion for a retrial after a federal jury found competitor Motive not guilty of copyright infringement. The fleet tech provider sued Motive in October 2023 alleging it violated several patents related to fleet management systems and technologies. After a nearly two-year legal fight, the jury delivered a unanimous verdict finding Motive not guilty of these charges on April 25. On Thursday, Omnitracs filed a 33-page motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California claiming that Motive's conduct during the original trial was 'prejudiced.' 'In lieu of actual non-infringement evidence, Motive relied on a host of improper and irrelevant assertions designed to prejudice the jury against Omnitracs,' the motion obtained by FreightWaves stated. 'When cross examining Omnitracs' technical expert, for instance, Motive lobbed an accusation that Omnitracs (and its witness) were racially and religiously insensitive for not explaining that Motive's co-founder allegedly used an American-sounding email alias to avoid discrimination from truck drivers against Muslim[s].' 'There may not be a more prejudicial statement to make to a jury in the Northern District of California, particularly when one of the jurors was born and raised in and wore a head scarf every day of trial,' the statement continued. 'What's more, Motive's accusations were not supported by the record and were not substantiated by any later witness.' In addition to religious and racial insinuations, Omnitracs alleged that Motive violated court orders regarding the disclosure of their legal investigation. 'Motive followed up these accusations by repeatedly violating this Court's MIL [motion in limine] order prohibiting references to the alleged legal investigation that Motive conducted but withheld from discovery, in addition to numerous other improper arguments,' the motion stated. 'Second, the highly unusual split verdict form — and the language the Court used in explaining the verdict form — severely and unfairly prejudiced Omnitracs by suggesting that the Court believed Omnitracs' liability case was deficient.' Omnitracs contended that these actions prevented a fair trial. 'This behavior, combined with Motive's seizure of the Court's bifurcated verdict form to give the jury a 'everyone-gets-to-go-home' early option, guaranteed that this case would not be decided on the evidence presented,' the motion stated. Presiding U.S. Judge Rita Lin is expected to respond to the proposed order from Omnitracs by Thursday. Motive told FreightWaves in an emailed statement that it stands behind the jury's verdict and statements provided in its initial news release on the matter. The post Omnitracs files motion for retrial over Motive copyright case appeared first on FreightWaves.
National Post
25-04-2025
- Business
- National Post
Motive Wins Omnitracs Lawsuit
Article content SAN FRANCISCO — Yesterday, Motive, the AI-powered Integrated Operations Platform, emerged victorious when a jury in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California delivered a unanimous verdict that Motive does not infringe any of Omnitracs' patents. This jury verdict was a win for Motive, its customers, and for innovation across the physical economy. Article content Yesterday's verdict reinforces what Motive's customers already know — Motive's success is driven by the strength of its technology, including industry-leading AI and the breadth of its Integrated Operations Platform. Article content Article content 'Omnitracs chose to wrongfully accuse us of patent infringement, instead of investing their time to build better and more innovative products to serve their customers,' said Shu White, Chief Legal Officer of Motive. 'Today's victory ensures that customers across the physical economy get access to the best tools in the world to improve the safety, productivity and profitability of their operations.' Article content Motive empowers the people who run physical operations with tools to make their work safer, more productive, and more profitable. For the first time, safety, operations, and finance teams can manage their workers, vehicles, equipment, and fleet-related spend in a single system. Motive serves more than 100,000 customers from small businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises such as Halliburton, KONE, Komatsu, NBC Universal, and Maersk across a wide range of industries including transportation and logistics, construction, energy, field service, manufacturing, agriculture, food and beverage, retail, waste services, and the public sector. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content
