Pitney Bowes, Stamps.com End Litigation

Mail metering company Pitney Bowes Inc. and Web postage service Stamps.com Inc. on Monday said they had settled four years of litigation over technology patents for buying and printing postage via the Internet.

The companies said the settlement included a five-year agreement under which each firm would license certain of the other’s patents. Stamford, Conn.-based Pitney and Stamps.com of Santa Monica said there would be “no material financial payment” between them. Other terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Executives of both companies said they were “very pleased” with the settlement.

The dispute centered on patents for secure transactions of postage funds over the Internet and ways to print postage onto labels that can be used like stamps.

Stamps.com Chief Executive Ken McBride said the agreement “represents a good return to our shareholders on our large investment in technology and our broad intellectual property portfolio.”

Pitney, whose postal meters are a mainstay of many companies’ offices, sued the smaller Stamps.com in June 1999, claiming infringement of patents covering key processes for shipping and tracking packages and mail.

Stamps.com filed its own lawsuit against Pitney in June 2001, claiming infringement of patents held by Salim Kara, the founder of E-Stamp Corp. of Mountain View, Calif., whose assets Stamps.com had bought.

Pitney shares closed Monday on the New York Stock Exchange at $38.95, up 30 cents. Stamps.com shares closed on Nasdaq at $6, down 4 cents.

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Reuters and Bloomberg News were used in compiling this report.