STAMFORD, Conn., Dec. 4 -- Pitney Bowes Inc. today announced it has filed suit against Stamps.com of Santa Monica, Calif., in the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The suit charges that Stamps.com's NetStamps(TM) postage product infringes several Pitney Bowes patents. "Pitney Bowes is strongly committed to protecting its intellectual property portfolio," said Sara Moss, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Pitney Bowes. "Over the last 10 years, Pitney Bowes invested more than $1 billion in R&D. We have an obligation to our shareholders to take the necessary steps to protect our intellectual property assets and deliver a return on our significant technology investment." Pitney Bowes has a long history of widely licensing its technology, and currently has agreements with companies in a variety of industries, including shipping, printing, word processing and mailing. The company, a recognized leader in innovation, consistently ranks in the top 200 companies worldwide receiving U.S. patents. Pitney Bowes' intellectual property assets, which include more than 3,500 active patents worldwide, cover a wide range of technologies and business processes that have applications in various industries, such as ticketing, cellular telephones, shipping, laser printing, encryption and mailing, to name a few. Pitney Bowes is a $4.1 billion global provider of integrated mail and document management solutions headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The company serves over 2 million businesses of all sizes through dealer and direct operations. Additional information on the company, its products and solutions is available at http://www.pb.com.