Network-1 Technologies, Inc. v. Google, L.L.C. et al

Publicly traded Network-1 Technologies, Inc. has seen another setback after reporting mixed financial results for the first quarter, as the Federal Circuit has just declined to overturn an adverse appeal ruling in favor of Google and subsidiary YouTube. On July 10, the Federal Circuit summarily declined to grant an en banc or panel rehearing of its March opinion that reversed a series of final decisions by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) in four inter partes reviews (IPRs) filed by Google and YouTube. In that upheld opinion, the court ruled that the Board had erred in declining to cancel claims from four of the NPE’s content identification patents due to an improper claim construction. The holding comes as Network-1 contends with the partial invalidation, late last year, of a patent from another portfolio that has been responsible for the majority of its licensing revenue.

The Federal Circuit has reversed a series of final decisions that mostly upheld the validity of four patents held by Network-1 Technologies, Inc. in four inter partes reviews (IPRs) filed by Google. In a March 26 opinion, the appeals court held that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) erred in its construction of a key claim term upon which those June 2016 decisions had turned, remanding for further proceedings consistent with Google’s preferred construction.

The Federal Circuit has upheld a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision that a media content identification patent held by publicly traded Network-1 Technologies, Inc. is not invalid over certain prior art (2017-1379). In a two-page order issued on January 23, the court affirmed the PTAB’s October 2016 holding in a covered business method (CBM) review filed by Google (CBM2015-00113) that the patent at issue is not invalid as obvious, ruling that the Board did not err in its construction of a key claim term.

Network-1 Technologies, Inc. has disclosed a 74.5-percent increase in revenue for 2016 due to license agreements signed throughout the fiscal year, also announcing that its net income increased by five times compared to 2015. Meanwhile, Pendrell Corporation reported its first year of operating income in 2016 as it prepares to de-list from Nasdaq, part of the NPE’s ongoing efforts to shift away from patent assertion in the wake of adverse jury verdicts in its ContentGuard DRM campaign.