PALM GARDENS, Fla., Oct. 31 (UPI) -- An exclusion order and cease and desist order have been issued against a South Korean and a U.S. company for patent infringement of biometric products.

The orders against Suprema Inc. of South Korea and Mentalix Inc. of Plano, Texas, were issued by the U.S. International Trade Commission after a final determination in favor of claims made by Cross Match Technologies Inc., a global provider of biometric identity solutions.

"The ITC affirmed the chief administrative law judge's ruling earlier this year that Suprema Inc. of South Korea and Mentalix Inc. of Plano, Texas, infringe Cross Match's hardware and software patents, further determining that Suprema actively induced others to infringe one of Cross Match's patents," Cross Match said in a news release.

"The ITC determined that Cross Match's asserted patents were all valid and enforceable, and based on Suprema and Mentalix's infringement, issued a limited exclusion order barring entry into the United States of Suprema's '[b]iometric scanning devices, components thereof, associated software, and products containing the same' that infringe claims 10, 12, and 15 of Cross Match Patent No. 5,900,993 and claim 19 of Cross Match Patent No. 7,203,344 covering hardware and software directed to advanced biometric technologies," it said..

The excluded Suprema products include its RealScan-10 compact 10-print live scanner and its RealScan-D portable dual finger live scanner when used in conjunction with Mentalix's Fed Submit software.

The ITC also issued a cease and desist order to Mentalix barring the sale of any existing inventory of Suprema's infringing products.

The ruling stems from a patent infringement complaint filed on May 11, 2010 by Cross Match and subsequent investigation and trial by the ITC. Florida-based Cross Match also has an infringement suit against Suprema and Mentalix pending in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

(Source: www.upi.com)