Patents

Origin Technologies Limited, manufacturer of Pogo products, holds granted patents in the UK, several European countries, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Origin’s patents protect key features of Origin and Pogo products. For example, “Directional” and “Limitator” are two features found on Origin and Pogo products which are patent protected.

Directional is a feature whereby safety camera warnings are only provided if the Origin/Pogo user is travelling in the safety camera’s direction of operation; for example, if a safety camera is targeting only the southbound traffic flow on a particular road, and an Origin/Pogo user is travelling north on that road, the Origin/Pogo user will not be disturbed by a warning for the particular camera. A warning for a camera on the opposite side of the road, which poses no “threat” to the driver travelling in the other direction is, essentially, a false alarm. Any product not equipped with the patented Directional feature would provide its user with very poor on-road performance which most would find extremely irritating.

Limitator is a feature whereby full safety camera warnings are only provided if the Origin/Pogo user is travelling above the prevailing speed limit. On Pogo products, if the user comes into range of a safety camera and is travelling below the speed limit, the Pogo product will sound two quick beeps and show the camera information on the display. If the user stays within the speed limit no further audible warnings will be provided; if the user accelerates to a speed above the speed limit before the safety camera is reached then the full audible warning will sound. Any competitive product not equipped with Limitator will provide its user with more audible alerts than necessary, which most users will find irritating.

Both Directional and Limitator were conceived so that audible warnings are only provided on Origin and Pogo products if the user really needs to know about a potential camera “threat”. Directional also vastly reduces the amount of false alarms experienced on rival products and traditional radar detector products.

The validity of Origin’s European patent (in force in ten European countries) was recently challenged by a competitor. The case was heard in the Opposition Division of the European Patent Office (EPO) in The Hague in November 2009; Origin won an easy victory in the hearing. The competitor then appealed the court's decision; the appeal hearing was heard in May 2011 by the Board of Appeal at the EPO in Munich, the highest patent court in Europe. Again, Origin was victorious. Origin's patents have now been thoroughly "tested" and upheld, meaning that they are extremely strong and robust.

Many of Origin’s competitors are thought to infringe some or all of Origin’s granted patents. Litigation against infringing companies commenced in August 2011.

Origin’s patent numbers are as follows:

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