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Return To Sender: High Court To Hear Undeliverable Mail Case (washingtonpost.com)
New submitter bluekloud shares a report: Mitch Hungerpiller thought he had a first-class solution for mail that gets returned as undeliverable, a common problem for businesses that send lots of letters. But the process he helped develop and built his small Alabama technology company around has resulted in a more than decade-long fight with the U.S. Postal Service, which says his solution shouldn't have been patentable. The David vs. Goliath dispute has now arrived at the Supreme Court. On Tuesday, the justices will hear Hungerpiller's case, which involves parsing the meaning of a 2011 patent law.
"All I want is a fair shake," said Hungerpiller, who lives in Birmingham and is a father of three. Hungerpiller, 56, started thinking seriously about returned mail in 1999 when he was doing computer consulting work. While visiting clients he kept seeing huge trays of returned mail. He read that every year, billions pieces of mail are returned as undeliverable, costing companies and the Postal Service time and money. So he decided to try to solve the problem. He developed a system that uses barcodes, scanning equipment and computer databases to process returned mail almost entirely automatically. His clients, from financial services companies to marketing companies, generally direct their returned mail to Hungerpiller's company, Return Mail Inc., for processing. Clients can get information about whether the mail was actually correctly addressed and whether there's a more current address.
"All I want is a fair shake," said Hungerpiller, who lives in Birmingham and is a father of three. Hungerpiller, 56, started thinking seriously about returned mail in 1999 when he was doing computer consulting work. While visiting clients he kept seeing huge trays of returned mail. He read that every year, billions pieces of mail are returned as undeliverable, costing companies and the Postal Service time and money. So he decided to try to solve the problem. He developed a system that uses barcodes, scanning equipment and computer databases to process returned mail almost entirely automatically. His clients, from financial services companies to marketing companies, generally direct their returned mail to Hungerpiller's company, Return Mail Inc., for processing. Clients can get information about whether the mail was actually correctly addressed and whether there's a more current address.
Return to sender, return to sender
I gave a letter to the postman, he put it his sack
Bright in early next morning, he brought my letter back
She wrote upon it
Return to sender, address unknown
No such number, no such zone
We had a quarrel, a lover's spat
I write I'm sorry but my letter keeps coming back
So then I dropped it in the mailbox and sent it special D
Bright in early next morning it came right back to me
She wrote upon it
Return to sender, address unknown
No such person, no such zone
This time I'm gonna take it myself and put it right in her hand
And if it comes back the very next day then I'll understand
The writing on it
Return to sender, address unknown
No such number, no such zone
Return to sender, return to sender
Return to sender, return to sender
Address unknown, not even a trace of you
Oh what I'd give to see the face of you
I was a fool to stay away from you so long
I should have known there'd come a day when you'd be gone
Address unknown, oh how could I be so blind?
To think that you would never be hard to find?
From the place of your birth to the ends of the earth
I've searched only to find, only to find, address unknown
Address unknown, honey child, I ain't even got a trace of ya
You know one thing?
I'd give anything in the world just to see the face of ya
I was a fool to stay away from you and everything else so long
I should have been diplomatic and figured that some day
You'd be solid gone
Address unknown, oh how could I be so blind?
Who'd think that you would never be hard to find?
From the place of your birth to the ends of the earth
I've searched only to find, only to find, address unknown
You are welcome on my lawn.