Olivistar, LLC v. Sharp Electronics Corporation

Mozly Tech LLC has added four new defendants to its sole litigation campaign, accusing HubSpot (2:17-cv-00446), LexisNexis (2:17-cv-00447), RingCentral (2:17-cv-00448), and SAP (2:17-cv-00449) of infringing a single patent (7,367,044) generally related to managing account permissions over a network of secure servers. As in most of its previous complaints, the plaintiff—an affiliate of IP Edge LLC—alleges infringement through the provision of customer relationship management (CRM) software.

In late March, Banertek LLC, an affiliate of monetization firm IP Edge LLC, added yet another round of defendants to the long-running assertion in the Eastern District of Texas of a single patent (6,839,731).  The ‘731 patent generally relates to network-based remote device control and communication. The new defendants are ABB (2:17-cv-00241), Eaton (2:17-cv-00242), Emerson Electric (2:17-cv-00243), Endress + Hauser (2:17-cv-00244), Pepperl + Fuchs (2:17-cv-00245), Siemens (2:17-cv-00246), and SMAR (2:17-cv-00247). Each complaint in this round accuses the defendant of infringement through provision of distributed control systems that include devices that utilize the HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transfer) or the WirelessHART open standard communication protocols. Roughly a month later, a subsidiary of Emerson, Emerson Process Management, has now filed a case (1:17-cv-00395) against Banertek, alleging that the NPE sued the wrong defendant and seeking a declaratory judgment from the Western District of Texas that it does not infringe the ‘731 patent.

A new Texas NPE called Reef Mountain LLC has picked up the assertion of yet another patent (8,239,481) that Olivistar LLC, an entity managed by patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC, has litigated against many defendants in the past. The new complaints target Aviglion (5:16-cv-00132), Edimax Computer (5:16-cv-00133), Flir Systems (5:16-cv-00134), Swann Communications (5:16-cv-00135), TP-Link (5:16-cv-00136), TRENDnet (5:16-cv-00137), Ubiquiti Networks (5:16-cv-00138), and Vivotek (5:16-cv-00139). The ‘481 patent generally relates to the remote control of devices, and the accused devices are networked cameras. Olivistar has now offloaded five of the six patents that it appears to have owned to four new, apparent IP Edge entities, three of which have launched litigation.

New NPE Olivistar filed suits against forty four companies including ADT, Amazon, American Traffic Solutions, Belkin, Blackberry, Boxee, Creston, D-Link, Facebook, Global Media, Honeywell, LG, Logitec, Lowes, Motorola, NETGEAR, OnStar, Panasonic, Philips, Roku, Samsung, Skype, Somfy, Sony, Tivo, Vivint, and Vizio. Olivistar’s complaints accuse a broad spectrum of products and services including online chat, home security and automation, wireless infant monitors, streaming media players, and a game console. The patents-in-suit relate to networked-based remote device control (6,839,731, 8,239,481). One of the two patents (the ‘731 patent) was previously asserted in litigation between 2010 and 2011 against at least ten companies by IPNav-entity Vigilos. That campaign included ADT, Cisco, DISH, Intel, and Sling Media; all defendants were later dismissed from the cases, mostly with prejudice within six months to a year of the complaint being filed. RPX reviewed the ‘731 and ‘481 patents in an open market opportunity in 2008 (Vigilos-OMA). In 2010 the patents were assigned to Boulder River Holdings, an entity that appears to be tied to Vigilos. No subsequent assignments have been recorded with the USPTO. 4/14, Texas Eastern District Court, 2:14cv00338, 2:14cv00339,  2:14cv00340,  2:14cv00341,  2:14cv00342,  2:14cv00343,  2:14cv00344,  2:14cv00345, 2:14cv00346, 2:14cv00347, 2:14cv00348, 2:14cv00349; 4/23, Texas Eastern District Court, 2:14cv00390, 2:14cv00391, 2:14cv00393, 2:14cv00395, 2:14cv00399; 4/24, Texas Eastern District Court, 2:14cv00512, 2:14cv00514, 2:14cv00515, 2:14cv00516, 2:14cv00517; 2:14cv00518, 2:14cv00519, 2:14cv00520, 2:14cv00521, 2:14cv00522, 2:14cv00524, 2:14cv00525, 2:14cv00526, 2:14cv00528, 2:14cv0052, 2:14cv00530, 2:14cv00531, 2:14cv00533, 2:14cv00534, 2:14cv00536, 2:14cv00537, 2:14cv00538, 2:14cv00539, 2:14cv00540, 2:14cv00541, 2:14cv00542, 2:14cv00543; 4/25, Texas Eastern District Court, 2:14cv00545, 2:14cv00546, 2:14cv00547, 2:14cv00548; 2:14cv00550, 2:14cv00551; 2:14cv00553, 2:14cv00554, 2:14cv00555