Cellular Communications Equipment LLC v. Apple Inc. et al

Cellular Communications Equipment LLC (CCE), a subsidiary of publicly traded NPE Acacia Research Corporation, has filed its first round of litigation in roughly two years, hitting BBK Electronics (One Plus Technology) (2:20-cv-00079), HMD Global (2:20-cv-00078), and TCL (2:20-cv-00080) in separate suits filed in the Eastern District of Texas. While over its seven-year life, this campaign has seen more than 20 patents asserted, against nearly two dozen defendants, the current complaints assert a single patent, generally related to a mobile operating system with a software process that checks whether an application has permissions to perform a function. The defendants are alleged to infringe that patent through the provision of smartphones running Google’s Android 4.2 or higher, targeting the devices’ inclusion of the native Android Messaging app.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw activity in a variety of notable campaigns throughout February 2018, with petitions for inter partes review (IPR) filed against publicly traded Quarterhill Inc. as well as Fundamental Innovation Systems International LLC, Intellectual Ventures LLC, Realtime Data LLC, and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited. The Board also instituted trial in February for IPRs against General Patent Corporation, Oyster Optics, LLC, and Uniloc. In addition, the PTAB issued final decisions throughout February in IPRs against a range of different patent owners, including publicly traded NPEs (Acacia Research Corporation; InterDigital, Inc.; and VirnetX Inc.), an individual inventor (Daniel L. Flamm), and privately held plaintiffs (ChanBond, LLC; Makor Issues & Rights Ltd.; Papst Licensing GmbH & Company Kg; and Personalized Media Communications, LLC).

In October 2017, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw the filing of petitions for inter partes review (IPR) against a variety of frequent litigants, including publicly traded NPEs Acacia Research Corporation and Xperi Corporation, as well as privately held Monument Patent Holdings, LLC and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited. The Board also instituted trial in October for IPRs against multiple Acacia subsidiaries, Uniloc, and Papst Licensing GmbH & Company Kg. In addition, the PTAB issued an IPR final decision cancelling multiple claims from a data compression patent held by prolific plaintiff Realtime Data LLC, including the single claim that Riverbed Technology (one of the petitioners for the IPR) was found to infringe in a $4.3M verdict in May, with other final decisions issued in campaigns waged by TQ Delta LLC and publicly traded Quarterhill Inc. IPRs against IP Bridge, Inc. and Mobile Telecommunications Technologies, LLC also ended in termination in October after the patent owners requested adverse judgments.

Multiple companies already active in Acacia Research Corporation’s Cellular Communications Equipment LLC (CCE) campaign have been sued once more, over former Nokia patents yet again. The NPE’s October 12 complaint (3:17-cv-02805), filed in the Northern District of Texas, asserts three previously litigated patents against mobile device maker ZTE, together with wireless carriers AT&T (AT&T Mobility), Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile), SoftBank (Boost Mobile, Sprint Solutions, Sprint Spectrum), Verizon (Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless); the defendants are accused of infringement through provision of various mobile devices with cellular service. CCE’s latest filing—its first in nearly six months—follows Acacia’s announcement last month that CCE and Parthenon Unified Memory Architecture LLC had entered into an agreement with Apple “to resolve patent litigation”.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw petitions for AIA review filed against a variety of prolific litigants in June 2017, including General Patent Corporation, Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), Quarterhill Inc. (f/k/a Wi-LAN Inc.), Realtime Data LLC, Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited, and Xperi Corporation (f/k/a Tessera Holding Corporation). Also in June, the PTAB instituted trial for petitions brought against patents asserted in a variety of sprawling campaigns, including some waged by Acacia Research Corporation, IV, Papst Licensing, Quarterhill, and VirnetX Inc. The Board further issued final decisions throughout June in AIA reviews against patents involved in several notable campaigns, including some waged by Document Security Systems, Inc., Elm 3DS Innovations LLC, Empire IP LLC, and Quarterhill.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw 54 petitions for AIA review brought against NPEs in May, up from 20 such petitions filed in April. May PTAB filings included a resurgence in petitions against publicly traded NPEs, including Acacia Research Corporation; Pendrell Corporation; Quest Patent Research Corporation; VoIP-Pal.com, Inc.; Xperi Corporation (f/k/a Tessera Holding Corporation); and Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN) (which was renamed to Quarterhill Inc. on June 1). A variety of private litigants were also hit by PTAB petitions in May, including Blackbird Tech LLC, Global Equity Management (SA) Pty. Ltd., General Patent Corporation, Realtime Data LLC, and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) continued to see the filing of petitions for inter partes review (IPR) against publicly traded NPEs in March 2017, including Acacia Research Corporation; Finjan Holdings, Inc.; Pendrell Corporation; TiVo Corporation (formerly known as Rovi Corporation); and Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN). A variety of prolific, privately held NPEs were also targeted for IPR throughout March, including Blackbird Tech LLC, General Patent Corporation, IP Edge LLC, Realtime Data LLC, and Papst Licensing GmbH & Company Kg, along with several inventors and inventor-controlled NPEs and an assortment of other plaintiffs.

Acacia Research Corporation has announced a 22 percent revenue increase for fiscal year 2016 and a dip in revenue for Q4, disclosing losses for both the quarter and the year that were significantly smaller than those in 2015. Meanwhile, VirnetX Holding Corporation reported stagnant revenue for 2016 along with a loss of its own, as it continues to experience setbacks in its sole litigation campaign due to post-trial rulings and the invalidation of multiple asserted patents.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board saw the filing of petitions against a host of publicly traded NPEs in February, including Acacia Research Corporation, Pendrell Corporation, Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN), and Xperi Corporation (f/k/a Tessera Holding Corporation), with challenges also filed in campaigns waged by Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV); IP Bridge, Inc.; Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited; and Monument Patent Holdings, LLC.

Cellular Communications Equipment LLC (CCE) has filed two new lawsuits against HTC (2:17-cv-00078) and ZTE (2:17-cv-00079), each of which also names AT&T, SOFTBANK (Boost Mobile, Sprint), T-Mobile, and Verizon (Cellco) as co-defendants. At issue are certain HTC and ZTE smartphones, respectively, that utilize LTE networks, with defendants in both cases accused of infringing three patents (8,457,676; 8,570,957; 8,867,472) through the provision of those devices.

On September 14, a jury in the Eastern District of Texas found that Apple willfully infringed a wireless communications patent (8,055,820) through provision of its iPhones and iPads. The jury awarded Cellular Communications Equipment LLC (CCE) (a subsidiary of Acacia Research Corporation) $22M in damages (6:14-cv-00251). Wednesday’s decision comes after a recent win for Apple against another publicly traded NPE, VirnetX Inc.; see “PTAB Cancels Claims from Two VirnetX Patents Related to Others Asserted in $625M Apple Suit” (September 2016).