511 TECHNOLOGIES INC.; and CADDO SYSTEMS, INC, v. Delta Air Lines, Inc. DC

Caddo Systems, Inc., as owner of the asserted patents, and exclusive licensee 511 Technologies, Inc. have filed another round in a litigation campaign over a family of patents generally related to hierarchical menu navigation. The newest defendants are MediaTek (6:20-cv-00241), Microchip (6:20-cv-00245), NXP (6:20-cv-00244), and Siemens (4:20-cv-00255), each accused of infringement through the provision of nested menu systems for navigating product platforms and/or company websites. The plaintiffs began this campaign in 2016, with the last open cases closing in mid-2017.

During June 2017, RPX completed three deals on behalf of its patent risk management network, obtaining rights to the patents involved either to end litigation against its members or to prevent it in the first place. June acquisitions occurred within the Networking and E-Commerce and Software market sectors.

Huawei (2:17-cv-00427), Qualcomm (2:17-cv-00426), and SK Hynix (2:17-cv-00428), are the latest defendants added to the campaign of Caddo Systems, Inc., owner of the asserted patents, and exclusive licensee 511 Technologies, Inc. The two NPEs began litigation in August 2016, targeting the website navigation systems of five defendants—Dassault Systemes, Delta Airlines, Internet Brands, Southwest Airlines, and Tencent (ZAM Network)—that fall with a family of five patents (7,191,411; 7,216,301; 7,640,517; 7,725,836; 8,352,880). The patents generally relate to hierarchical menu navigation, issuing to sole named inventor Armin Moehrle between March 2007 and January 2013 with an estimated priority date in June 2002.

RPX reported two weeks ago that inventor Alan Loudermilk had joined Caddo Systems, Inc. as a director, in possible preparation to assert the patents of Armin Moehrle. Loudermilk is also one of two named directors for 511 Innovations, Inc., an entity actively engaged in the enforcement of Loudermilk patents, most recently against Apple. Indeed, Caddo Systems and 511 Technologies, Inc.—another entity controlled by Loudermilk—have now teamed up to assert five of those Moehrle patents (7,191,411; 7,216,301; 7,640,517; 7,725,836; 8,352,880), suing Delta Airlines (2:16-cv-00925), Internet Brands(2:16-cv-00927), Southwest Airlines (2:16-cv-00926), and Tencent (Zam Network) (2:16-cv-00928) in the Eastern District of Texas. The defendants’ website navigation systems are accused of infringement.