Hybrid Audio, LLC v. Visual Land, Inc.

Among the year’s top ten most prolific plaintiffs, Hybrid Audio LLC closed out 2017 with yet another lawsuit over a single expired digital signal processing patent allegedly essential to the MP3 standard for processing audio information. The plaintiff seeks to collect past damages from Texas Instruments (1:17-cv-12561) for the manufacture and sale of devices that “practice the MP3 Standards using hardware and software that is not provided by” Microsoft, specifically naming only TI’s TMDMP3D and TMDMP3DE decoding system-on-chips. This campaign has hit over 50 defendants since it began back in December 2010.

Hybrid Audio LLC has so far filed 16 new cases in May, nearly tripling the size of its campaign and pushing its defendant count to over 50. The NPE’s sole litigation campaign asserts a single expired digital signal processing patent (RE40,281) allegedly essential to the MP3 standard for processing audio information. Manufacturers of laptops, tablets, smartphones, and other devices using the MP3 standard continue to be targeted, although unlike its earlier suits, Hybrid Audio’s latest complaints specifically focus on products that allegedly practice the standard “using hardware and software that is not provided by Microsoft Corporation”. New campaign defendants include ArcSoft, CyberPower, GlassBridge Enterprises, and Rhapsody, plus eleven others.

In April, Hybrid Audio LLC has already filed new cases against Amazon (1:17-cv-10572), Roku (1:17-cv-10573), ViewSonic (1:17-cv-10574), and VIZIO (1:17-cv-10585), which, with suits filed against 7Digital Group, Cirrus Logic, Hannstar Display, Nero, NETGEAR, RealNetworks, and ROHM in March, bring the number of defendants added to the campaign over the last six months to 25. The NPE continues to assert an expired, reissued patent (RE40,281) generally related to digital signal processing. The plaintiff alleges that the ‘281 patent is essential to the MP3 audio standard and accuses the new defendants of infringement through the provision of devices utilizing that format.

Hybrid Audio LLC has added another round of lawsuits to its sole litigation campaign, accusing Acer (1:17-cv-10113), Bose (1:17-cv-10116), Garmin (1:17-cv-10118), Lenovo (1:17-cv-10120), and Logitech (1:17-cv-10122) of infringing an expired, reissued patent (RE40,281) generally related to digital signal processing. The plaintiff alleges that the ‘281 patent is essential to the MP3 audio standard and accuses the new defendants of infringement through the provision of devices utilizing that format. These latest suits follow three cases filed on January 6 against Delphi Automotive (1:17-cv-10030), Sharp (1:17-cv-10026), and VOXX Electronics (1:17-cv-10031), each of which remains in initial pleadings.

Hybrid Audio LLC has made another round of filings in its sole litigation campaign, accusing Delphi Automotive (1:17-cv-10030), Sharp (1:17-cv-10026), and VOXX Electronics (1:17-cv-10031) of infringing a single expired, reissued, and re-examined patent (RE40,281) generally related to digital signal processing. As in previous filings, the NPE alleges the patent is essential to the MP3 audio standard, with MP3-complaint devices at issue in each complaint.

Hybrid Audio LLC has added another round of defendants in its litigation campaign seeking limited past damages for infringement of a single expired, reissued, and re-examined patent (RE40,281). The ‘281 patent is alleged to be essential to the MP3 standard for processing audio information, and the new complaints target computing devices that use the standard made and/or sold by Archos (1:16-cv-12424), Cowon Systems (1:16-cv-12423), Creative Technology (1:16-cv-12422), iRiver (1:16-cv-12421), JVC Kenwood (1:16-cv-12420), and Western Digital (SanDisk) (1:16-cv-12419).