Script Security Solutions, L.L.C. v. Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless et al

In a case before District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, an NPE has filed an opposition to several motions to dismiss arguing that a domestic corporation might be deemed to reside outside of its state of incorporation despite this past May’s TC Heartland decision. In TC Heartland, the US Supreme Court held that 1988 revisions to the general venue statute did not change (as the Federal Circuit had ruled) the previously understood residence of a domestic corporation for venue purposes: such a defendant “resides” only in the state in which it was incorporated. District courts have been grappling with the implications of this return to the earlier understanding of venue in patent cases in the weeks since TC Heartland was handed down. Script Security Solutions LLC, an affiliate of patent monetization firm Empire IP LLC, has now urged Judge Gilstrap to treat venue in Texas, a large state with multiple judicial districts, under a different portion of the general venue statute than was considered in TC Heartland, a decision involving a case brought in the small, single-district state of Delaware.

Script Security Solutions LLC has filed seven new cases in its home security campaign, the Empire IP LLC affiliate’s third wave of litigation and its first new suits since June 2015. The NPE’s latest complaints target Bot Home Automation (2:16-cv-01401), Canary Connect (2:16-cv-01402), Guardian Protection Services (2:16-cv-01404), Logitech (2:16-cv-01400), Netgear (2:16-cv-01403), Protect America (2:16-cv-01405), and Vector Security (2:16-cv-01406). Each defendant is alleged to infringe two patents (6,542,078, 6,828,909) generally related to a portable alarm system with motion sensors that can wirelessly communicate alarm conditions, along with sensor identification information (e.g. the door or window to which the sensor is attached), to a remote host. Guardian Protection Services and Vector Security are further accused of infringing a third patent (7,113,091) with similar subject matter. At issue in these latest cases are home security systems allegedly offering the claimed features.

Amazon, Best Buy, Panasonic, Time Warner Cable, Verizon, and Vtech are the newest defendants in Script Security Solutions L.L.C.’s only litigation campaign. The Empire IP subsidiary began its campaign in March 2015, filing a dozen suits that assert two patents (6,542,078, 6,828,909). Those patents are asserted in the new cases, along with a third patent, 7,113,091, asserted in two of the suits, against Verizon and Time Warner. All three of the patents-in-suit relate to a portable security alarm and motion detector system. Defendants’ home monitoring systems are accused of infringement. Specifically at issue are systems that provide a remote notification to users when a motion detecting alarm is triggered.