Australian firm CPC Patent Technologies is defending its patents for biometric data, such as fingerprints, to unlock doors and other items, against Apple for selling devices with TouchID and FaceID, locally, while abroad, the business just won a U.S. patent breach suit over the same dispute against a global corporation, Assa Abloy.

CPC Patent Technologies filed the suit against Apple in the Federal Court of Australia, which has already taken place quietly in Sydney and was closed to the public. During the trial, Apple’s IP litigation principal counsel Garrett Sakimae, and senior counsel Jenny Liu were there representing the tech giant.

After CPC’s fresh win in the U.S., the company’s chief executive Kevin Dart, said they are also expanding their patent suits into Europe.

“The company is confident that its biometric secure access patents are valid and are being infringed by a number of the world’s leading manufacturers that use biometric devices in the global market today,” he said.

“(CPC Patent Technologies) is well supported by Australian and international legal teams and technology experts that have the integrity and ability to prosecute those that infringe CPC patents in Australia and internationally.”

On November 30, a verdict was revealed by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board, but this was after a U.S. suit was submitted in May 2022 by Assa Abloy, which asserted the biosecurity technology was “unpatentable”.

The Appeal Board disagreed with Assa Abloy, and within the judgement, it was written that the company had “not shown by a preponderance of the evidence that any of claims 1-17 are unpatentable.”

According to the Board, Assa Abloy and Apple have a “sophisticated and substantive business relationship,” and Assa Abloy provided locking systems to Apple, which Apple then offers to the market.

“Also, Apple’s iPhone is one of the smartphone products that can be used with (Assa Abloy’s) lock products,” the judgement read.

Regarding the series of suits filed by CPC Patent Technologies, 9to5Mac, a trade publication, called the firm a “patent troll”, while Assa Abloy said CPC had waged an “aggressive litigation campaign”.

The patent infringement case between Apple and CPC will return to Australian court in February 2024, and closing submissions will be heard at that time.