LBS Innovations, LLC v. Foursquare Labs, Inc.

Apple (2:12-cv-00759) has joined over 100 other companies as a defendant in the largest of the over 45 litigation campaigns filed by affiliates of monetization firm Empire IP LLC. LBS Innovations, LLC has asserted a single patent—generally related to providing location-based information, including “entertainment, commercial offers, and advertising” to mobile devices—since March 2011, with the most recent dismissal, in a case brought against Best Buy, Car Toys, and Fry’s Electronics, entered in December 2018. LBS Innovations targets Apple Maps, as allegedly provided in smartphones (from the iPhone 4 on), tablets (certain iPads and iPod Touches), computers (certain iMacs and MacBooks), smartwatches (from Apple Watch Series 0), and in-dash navigational devices (CarPlay since June 2014), all allegedly through June 12, 2017, the date of expiration of the patent-in-suit.

LBS Innovations, LLC, an affiliate of monetization firm Empire IP LLC, has filed a new case in the largest of Empire IP’s over 40 litigation campaigns. The new complaint accuses Best Buy, Car Toys, and Fry’s Electronics (2:17-cv-00792) of infringing a single patent through the sale of GPS navigation devices made by either JVC Kenwood or Pioneer Electronics, neither of which is itself named as a defendant. The patent generally relates to providing location-based information, including “entertainment, commercial offers, and advertising” to mobile devices. LBS Innovations began this campaign in March 2011, with the number of defendants now topping 100.

Empire IP LLC affiliate LBS Innovations, LLC filed two new suits, naming Foursquare (2:14-cv-00697) and Gasbuddy (2:14-cv-00698) as defendants in an ongoing campaign. The suits assert a single patent (6,091,956) and accuse defendants’ websites, which incorporate a location interface for users, of infringing the asserted patent. The ’956 patent, broadly related to the provision of location-based services, including advertisements and entertainment, to mobile devices, has been at issue in each of LBS’s suits. LBS’s campaign began in 2011 and includes more than two dozen cases. Past defendants include Costco, JP Morgan, Target, and Wells Fargo. 6/18, Eastern District of Texas.