Invalidation of patents clears way for cutting-edge vehicle scanners to disrupt widespread smuggling at the border; Viken’s $250m case against Rapiscan|AS&E advances

Viken Detection, pioneer of x-ray imaging and vehicle screening portals, today announced three further victories in its litigation with Rapiscan|AS&E. All patent claims asserted in Rapiscan|AS&E’s 2020 patent infringement complaint have been found invalid by three unanimous panels of the Patent Trial & Appeal Board of the US Patent & Trademark Office, ending its latest maneuver to stop Viken’s advanced scanners from reaching the southern border through patent injunctions.

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Viken Detection's OSPREY-UVX Passenger Vehicle Scanner (Photo: Business Wire)

“Viken developed its game-changing OSPREY suite of vehicle scanners, at the request of veteran US Customs and Border Protection leaders and based on the experience of renowned drug interdiction experts, to effectively and safely find drugs – especially those that are lower and deeper in passenger vehicles where traffickers now overwhelmingly hide them,” said Jim Ryan, CEO of Viken Detection. “Rapiscan|AS&E’s anticompetitive tactics to suppress Viken’s technology have failed. Let’s not waste any more time and, instead, give officers the best technology to find fentanyl and other drugs that poison and kill Americans every day.”

These latest rulings follow two earlier Viken victories defeating Rapiscan|AS&E's injunction strategy in a separate litigation. In that case, Viken seeks damages related to Rapiscan|AS&E’s alleged interference in US CBP’s vehicle scanning program. Damages of at least $83.6 million have been estimated by Viken’s MIT-trained antitrust economist, which the trial court may double or triple to up to approximately $250 million. A single, recently issued (and now expired) patent remains in the patent litigation. Although now irrelevant, Viken has never infringed this expired patent or any of the now-invalid patents.

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