Data Scape Limited v. Barracuda Networks, Inc.

News

• ITC Institutes Investigation as to Amazon, Apple, and Verizon in Cloud Computing Campaign
  April 6, 2019

  Last week, the International Trade Commission (ITC) instituted an investigation in response to a February complaint that Irish NPE Data Scape Limited filed, together with New York provider of LED ticker displays C-Scape Consulting Corp., against Amazon, Apple, and Verizon (337-TA-1150). Data Scape asserts three patents—generally related to storing and syncing data files in a distributed computing environment—in its ITC complaint that are already at issue in district court cases in the campaign, which the NPE began in Germany in 2017. In addition to the three ITC respondents, the list of defendants in Data Scape’s campaign includes Barracuda Networks, Box, Citrix, Dell, Dropbox, F5 Networks, Fujitsu, Pandora, Spotify, Teradata, and Western Digital. Data Scape seeks to satisfy the domestic industry requirement based on the activities of two identified licensees of the patents asserted: iCandy and Oracle.

  
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• Data Scape Sues Fifteenth Defendant Since Late December
  February 28, 2019

  Verizon (Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless) (6:19-cv-00174) is the latest company to be sued in the growing litigation campaign of Irish NPE Data Scape Limited, joining Box, Dell, and Dropbox as defendants in the Western District of Texas. Since late December, Data Scape has also filed multiple cases in districts in California, Colorado, and Texas, each asserting a subset of nearly two dozen patents that the NPE received from Sony in March 2017. The patents generally relate to storing and syncing data files in a distributed computing environment, with infringement allegations throughout the campaign focusing on products and services that sync documents and data across servers and client devices. Against Verizon, Data Scape targets the provision of smartphones using the Verizon Cloud application (offering data backup and sync features), including the Palm smartphone; and of the “Verizon Connect ‘Work’ software and service, the ‘Fleetmatics Work’ software and service, and the Work Mobile application”.

  
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• Cloud Computing Campaign Continues Adding Defendants
  February 14, 2019

  Two of the eight patents asserted across the growing campaign of Data Scape Limited are at issue in the NPE’s latest suit, filed against Teradata (2:19-cv-01002) in the Central District of California. Those patents broadly concern storing and syncing data files in a distributed computing environment, with infringement allegations throughout the campaign focusing on products and services that sync documents and data (e.g., music files) across servers and client devices. Data Scape targets Teradata over the provision of products and services (including “Unity, Unity Director, Unity Loader, Data Mover, Teradata Managed Server Unity, Unity Director/Loader Model 8-81X and Expansion Server Model 8-81XE, Unity Source Link Server, [and] Teradata Managed Server Unity Data Mover”) that transfer data between devices.

  
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• Data Scape Sues Barracuda Networks in the Eastern District of California
  February 8, 2019

  Data Scape Limited appears to be unrolling its sole litigation campaign, begun in late 2017 in Germany, by US district. This past week the NPE, formed in Ireland, sued Barracuda Networks (1:19-cv-00100) in the Eastern District of California, after prior waves of litigation hit defendants in the Central District of California (Apple, Citrix, Pandora, Spotify, and Western Digital); the Eastern District of Texas (Dell, Fujitsu, and SAP); the District of Colorado (Amazon, F5 Networks); and then the Western District of Texas (Box, Dropbox). Data Scape received the patents-in-campaign through a March 2017 assignment from Sony in a transaction involving over 20 issued US patents, together with various foreign assets. The NPE’s infringement allegations focus on products and services that sync documents and data (e.g., music files) across servers and client devices, targeting in its most recent complaint Barracuda’s provision of enterprise network backup products, including certain models of the “Barracuda Backup Physical Appliance…, Barracuda Backup Virtual Appliances, [and] Barracuda Cloud”.

  
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• Data Scape Files Against Box, Re-Files Against Dropbox
  January 27, 2019

  Data Scape Limited continues to add cases to the litigation campaign begun in late 2017 in Germany. This past week the NPE, formed in Ireland, sued Box (6:19-cv-00025) and Dropbox (6:19-cv-00023) in the Western District of Texas, asserting against each the same four patents broadly related to storing and syncing data files in a distributed computing environment. Data Scape received the patents through a March 2017 assignment from Sony in a transaction involving over 20 issued US patents, together with various foreign assets. Data Scape targets products and services of the defendants that sync documents and data (e.g., music files) across servers and client devices, calling out in these complaints various Box services (Platform, for Business, for Individuals & Teams, Sync, Drive), as well as Dropbox Business. Both suits are filed in the Waco division of Western District of Texas; Data Scape has filed a notice of dismissal without prejudice of the case filed earlier in January against Dropbox in the Austin division.

  
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• Data Scape Adds Another Defendant, in Yet Another District
  January 18, 2019

  Last week, Dropbox (1:19-cv-00048) joined Amazon and F5 Networks as defendants in the US litigation campaign of Data Scape Limited, an entity formed in Ireland in January 2017. Late that year, the NPE appears to have kicked things off in Germany, as publicly available litigation records indicate that a hearing was held in October 2017 in Germany’s Munich Regional Court for a lawsuit filed by the NPE against Riverbed Technology and another, anonymous defendant, with a March 2018 hearing held in a second case against Riverbed in that same district. In December 2018, Data Scape sued Apple, Citrix, Pandora, Spotify, and Western Digital in the Central District of California, as well as Dell, Fujitsu, and SAP in the Eastern District of Texas, asserting subsets of patents acquired through a March 2017 assignment from Sony.

  
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• In New Colorado Cases, Data Scape Adds Amazon and F5 Networks to Cloud Computing Campaign
  January 12, 2019

  The campaign that Data Scape Limited kicked off late last year has seen its first defendants added in 2019 after the NPE sued Amazon (1:19-cv-00056) and F5 Networks (1:19-cv-00064), both in the District of Colorado. Its new infringement allegations are in line with those in prior complaints, with Data Scape targeting products and services that synchronize data across multiple devices, including “Amazon Kindle, Amazon Photo, Amazon Drive, Amazon Prime Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, [and] Amazon devices on which they operate (e.g., Fire, Echo, Kindle, Amazon servers, etc.)” and F5’s BIG-IP software and hardware, respectively. The NPE asserts in each complaint overlapping subsets of patents from a portfolio comprising two families, both broadly pertaining to storing and syncing data files in a distributed computing environment and both received through a March 2017 assignment from Sony.

  
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• Irish NPE Launches Cloud Computing Campaign
  December 31, 2018

  Data Scape Limited, an NPE formed in Ireland in January 2017, has launched its first litigation campaign, asserting subsets of eight patents in separate cases filed against Apple (2:18-cv-10659), Citrix (2:18-cv-10658), Pandora (2:18-cv-10656), Spotify (2:18-cv-10653), and Western Digital (8:18-cv-02285) in the Central District of California, and against Dell (6:18-cv-00658), Fujitsu (6:18-cv-00659), and SAP (6:18-cv-00660) in the Eastern District of Texas. The patents belong to two families, both broadly pertaining to storing and syncing data files in a distributed computing environment and both received through a March 2017 assignment from Sony. That transaction involved over 20 issued US patents, together with foreign counterparts issuing in Canada, Europe, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom. Data Scape targets products and services of the defendants that sync documents and data (e.g., music files) across servers and client devices.

  
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