NovelPoint Tracking LLC v. TCT Mobile, Inc.

IP Edge LLC affiliate MagnaCross LLC has filed a fresh round of lawsuits, capping off a wave of year-end litigation by other NPEs also controlled by the prolific monetization firm. The latest MagnaCross complaints target Avaya (2:16-cv-01461), Comtrend (2:16-cv-01462), EnGenius (2:16-cv-01463), Huawei (2:16-cv-01464), Juniper Networks (2:16-cv-01465), Siemens (2:16-cv-01466), and Sierra Wireless (2:16-cv-01467), accusing the companies of infringing a single patent (6,917,304) generally related to wireless data transmission through the provision of wireless access points or routers.

Venus Locations LLC has filed four new lawsuits in its sole litigation campaign, asserting a single patent (6,442,485) generally related to translating GPS location data into map data against Actsoft (2:16-cv-00983), InTouch GPS (2:16-cv-00984), Omnitracs (2:16-cv-00985), and Teletrac (2:16-cv-00986). As in Venus’s first round of litigation, which targeted various companies including AT&T, LYFT, Microsoft, SOFTBANK (Sprint), T-Mobile, Trimble Navigation, and Verizon, the NPE’s latest complaints accuse the defendants of infringement through the provision of GPS, navigation, and fleet tracking services. In April 2016, Venus Locations took this campaign over from NovelPoint Tracking LLC, an NPE formed in Texas in January 2012 by Gautham (Gau) Bodepudi, Sanjay Pant, and Lillian Woung, the principals of patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC.

NovelPoint Tracking, a subsidiary of NovelPoint Holdings, which also controls NovelPoint Security and NovelPoint Learning, filed suit against TCT Mobile alleging that the defendant’s mobile phone infringes a patent related to GPS tracking, vehicle tracking, collision notification, and voice communication (6,442,485). NovelPoint Tracking first asserted the ’485 patent in April 2012 against multiple vehicle tracking companies, including Alamo Industries, Dynamex, and GPS Tracking. In December of that same year, NovelPoint Tracking shifted its campaign focus to tablet and handset makers by filing suits against Acer, Alcatel-Lucent, Samsung, Dell, Sony and others. The patent-in-suit was assigned to NovelPoint Tracking by the named inventor Wayne Evans in January 2012. RPX reviewed the patent as part of an open market opportunity (Evans GPS) in July 2010. Lillian Woung, Director at Erich Spangenberg’s IPNav as of June 2012, is listed as a member of all three NovelPoint Holdings subsidiaries. 1/25, Eastern District of Texas, Judge Rodney Gilstrap, 2:13cv00053.