Anuwave LLC v. Avast Software, Inc.

IP Edge LLC affiliate Anuwave LLC has rebooted its litigation campaign with a new round of filings, shifting application of the sole text messaging patent-in-suit from the provision of mobile banking services to the provision of “text security services”—i.e., security apps that locate a mobile device by sending it a text message from another device. The new complaints hit Avast (1:18-cv-00506), BitDefender (1:18-cv-00507), BullGuard (1:18-cv-00508), Symantec (1:18-cv-00509), Total Defense (1:18-cv-00510) and Webroot (1:18-cv-00511) in the District of Delaware and Sophos (1:18-cv-10655) in the District of Massachusetts, where prior defendants in the campaign, numbering close to 50, have typically been banks.

IP Edge LLC affiliate Anuwave LLC has filed its first new litigation since January, accusing Capitol Federal Savings Bank (1:17-cv-01054), Community Banks of Colorado (1:17-cv-01848), JPMorgan Chase (Chase Bank) (1:17-cv-01056), and TCF Financial (1:17-cv-01082) of infringing a single text messaging patent through the provision of mobile banking services. These latest complaints follow the dismissal of Anuwave’s last nine active lawsuits earlier this year, with eight cases dismissed with prejudice throughout February and March and a single suit against Evergreen Bank Group (1:17-cv-00479) dismissed without prejudice in late June.

Anuwave has added a third wave to its banking campaign, asserting the same text messaging patent (8,295,862) against seven more financial institutions: Associated Banc-Corporation (1:16-cv-cv-09925), BankFinancial (1:16-cv-cv-09923), Community Savings Bank (1:16-cv-cv-09927), First American Bank (1:16-cv-cv-09921), First Personal Financial (1:16-cv-cv-09915), Huntington Bancshares (1:16-cv-cv-09918), and Royal Financial (1:16-cv-cv-09920). Mobile banking applications are the accused products in this campaign; with these new filings, the number of defendants is now over three dozen.