POLICE departments poised to adopt a new generation of digital speed traps
could end up paying a lot more for them than they had bargained for, New
快猫短视频 has learned. Just as the new speed traps were about to go into
service, an American inventor has revealed that he has been awarded at least one
patent on the technology and will be seeking what are believed to be substantial
royalties for its use.
Most speed traps鈥攗sed throughout Europe, Australia, South America and
parts of North America鈥攗se radar to detect vehicles鈥� speeds and a camera
with a flash to identify those going too fast. But motorists can beat these
traps simply by slowing down if they see cameras or are alerted by radar
detectors.
For the past year, the British government has been testing a system which is
impossible for drivers to beat in this way. Called Speed Violation Detection
Deterrent (SVDD), it uses digital infrared cameras to photograph all cars
passing fixed points such as overhead bridges. It records the time cars pass and
identifies them by using optical character recognition software that can read
their licence plates. When a car passes another checkpoint, the system can
calculate its average speed. The digital images are securely encrypted and
automatically deleted if the average speed is within the limit.
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A website dedicated to monitoring speed traps estimates that there are now 35
companies around the world offering licence plate recognition systems. The SVDD
system was developed by Computer Recognition Systems of Cambridge,
Massachusetts, and Wokingham, Berkshire. Trials on motorways in Leicester and
Kent caught 4000 speeders a day, though no fines were levied. The system was
approved by the Home Office in April 1999 and is now being implemented in
Britain.
CRS hopes to sell the equipment round the world, yet the company hasn鈥檛
patented its SVDD technology. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have patents because we don鈥檛 believe in
them. We just don鈥檛 tell anyone what we are doing,鈥� says Bill Adaway, the acting
managing director of CRS.
However, in March 1998, John Moetteli, an American patent lawyer and
inventor, filed for a US patent on a similar idea, in which cars鈥� average speeds
between checkpoints are calculated and licence plate data is sent over a
network.
Moetteli鈥檚 US patent has been granted and he expects a European patent to be
granted within a year. 鈥淚 shall then want to talk to the UK authorities,鈥� he
says.
CRS was unaware of Moetteli鈥檚 claims. 鈥淚鈥檝e never heard of him,鈥� says Adaway.
鈥淲e are the only people with any kind of digital enforcement system.鈥�
A legal wrangle now looks inevitable. When inventors take a considered
decision not to file for patents, they run the risk that someone else will file
patents for the same idea and sue them for infringement. It鈥檚 then up to the
inventor to try and invalidate the patent.
Moetelli is confident that he has a legal claim to the idea. As a patent
attorney, he is well placed to argue his case. Adaway is equally confident he
can defeat any claim to the invention.