Advanced Video Technologies LLC v. Blackberry Limited etal CAFC

Advanced Video Technologies LLC (AVT) has filed a new case against Samsung (1:16-cv-03967), asserting the same patent (5,781,788) at issue in this litigation campaign since it began over twelve years ago. The ‘788 patent generally relates to single-chip video compression and decompression, and the accused products include Samsung smartphones, digital cameras, and camcorders. AVT’s new case comes in the wake of district court orders granting past defendants BlackBerry, HTC, and Motorola Mobility both attorney fees, the award of which is on appeal before the Federal Circuit, and costs.

Advanced Video Technologies LLC (AVT) (a subsidiary of General Patent Corporation) has appealed District Court Judge Colleen McMahon’s award of attorney fees to HTC (1:11-cv-06604), BlackBerry (1:11-cv-08908), and Motorola (1:12-cv-00918). Judge McMahon granted fees to the defendants in August 2015 after ruling that AVT’s mishandling of a patent title dispute warranted a finding that the three cases were “exceptional” under Octane. Her December 14 sanctions award order reaffirmed that decision and specified the amounts to be paid, setting HTC’s fee award at over $502K and directing BlackBerry and Motorola to submit reduced calculations to factor in duplicative work. On January 19, after further communications with counsel, the judge awarded $84K to Blackberry and $81K to Motorola in two separate orders. AVT filed separate notices of appeal in each proceeding: on January 11 for its case against HTC (16-1476), and on January 21 for BlackBerry (16-1514) and Motorola (16-1515). The NPE had originally filed suit against HTC in late 2011 and Blackberry and Motorola in 2012.