Plano Encryption Technologies, LLC v. Etsy, Inc. DC

In a burst of new filings, Honeyman Cipher Solutions LLC has sued six defendants across three districts: Adidas (1:20-cv-00401), ASICS Digital (1:20-cv-00402), Evernote (1:20-cv-00403), and PayPal (1:20-cv-00404) in the Western District of Texas; Asana (3:20-cv-00928) in the Northern District of Texas; and Slack (1:20-cv-01076) in the District of Colorado. As with its last complaints, filed separately in the District of Delaware against LogMeIn and Snap, infringement allegations focus on the defendants’ use of Apple’s iTunes Connect and Google’s Android Developer Console to register and distribute their iOS and Android apps. There is a history of challenges to those allegations.

Delaware plaintiff Honeyman Cipher Solutions LLC has expanded the litigation campaign that it launched in June with a single suit against Groupon, targeting that company’s use of Apple’s iTunes Connect and Google’s Android Developer Console to register and distribute its respective iOS and Android apps. Now, as Groupon challenges the sufficiency of Honeyman Cipher’s infringement allegations in that Northern District of Illinois case, the NPE has filed a pair of new complaints in Delaware against LogMeIn (1:19-cv-01545) and Snap (1:19-cv-01547) over their use of the same systems—laying out virtually the same arguments currently under fire by Groupon. A related set of arguments were also raised by Groupon in an unresolved motion to dismiss a Texas case brought by the patent-in-campaign’s prior owner, Bradley D. Liddle’s Plano Encryption Technologies, LLC (PET), before that case was dismissed for improper venue (thereby mooting the defendant’s allegations of noninfringement).

As predicted, Honeyman Cipher Solutions LLC has launched its first litigation campaign, asserting one of the patents previously litigated by Bradley D. Liddle’s Plano Encryption Technologies, LLC (PET). The new Northern District of Illinois complaint asserts a patent generally related to digital content protection in computer systems against Groupon (1:19-cv-03754) for a second time, again targeting the company over its use of Apple’s iTunes Connect and Google’s Android Developer Console to register and distribute its iOS and Android apps, respectively. In June 2017, a suit over the same patent, filed by PET in the Eastern District of Texas, was dismissed for improper venue a few months after the US Supreme Court’s TC Heartland decision.

Codec Technologies LLC has filed ten new suits in its sole litigation campaign against Craig Electronics (2:16-cv-01426), Curtis (2:16-cv-01436), Datawind (2:16-cv-01437), Global Phoenix Computer Technologies Solutions (2:16-cv-01432), Naxa Electronics (2:16-cv-01428), Pivos Technology Group (2:16-cv-01427), PLR IP Holdings (2:16-cv-01435), RSPA (d/b/a Sungale) (2:16-cv-01429), Voxx Electronics (2:16-cv-01430), and Vulcan Electronics (2:16-cv-01431). The new complaints allege that tablets made and sold by each defendant infringe a single patent (6,825,780) generally related to data compression using multiple encoders on a single integrated circuit.

Recently formed Texas NPE Paluxy Messaging, LLC has initiated a first litigation campaign with new cases filed against 8×8 (6:16-cv-01346), Longview Cable Television (6:16-cv-01345), Nextiva (6:16-cv-01348), and ShoreTel (6:16-cv-01350). Paluxy asserts a single patent (8,411,829) generally related to a messaging system that separately transmits copies of recorded messages. The NPE accuses the defendants of infringement through provision of their voicemail services. The ‘829 patent has five named inventors, one of whom, James D. Logan, is a prolific inventor whose patents have been the subject of high-profile past litigation, including the long-running Personal Audio LLC campaign. Public filings in connection with an appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court from Logan’s divorce decree indicate that his now second ex-wife, Caren, has been awarded, through a separate patent stipulation, a percentage interest in Logan’s patent holdings through the companies that own them.

Plano Encryption Technologies, LLC (PET) has continued the expansion of its sole litigation campaign beyond mobile banking to more general consumer apps with new cases against Groupon (2:16-cv-01093), JCPenney (2:16-cv-01073), IAC (Match.com) (2:16-cv-01094), and State Farm (2:16-cv-01072). These complaints assert the same two patents (5,991,399; 5,974,550) consistently at issue since the onset of this campaign in June 2015. A July 2016 claim construction order characterizes the ‘399 patent as generally related to “digital content protection in computer systems”, and the ‘550 patent as generally related to a “remote security protocol in computer systems in which two processes are operating”.

Plano Encryption Technologies, LLC (PET) has recently added cases against Alkami (2:16-cv-01032), Best Buy (2:16-cv-01049), Etsy (2:16-cv-01050), and Shutterfly (2:16-cv-01053) to its sole litigation campaign. The new complaints assert two patents (5,991,399; 5,974,550) generally related to security in online transactions, targeting the defendants’ mobile apps. At roughly the same time, the court granted dismissals, all but one with prejudice, in earlier cases in the campaign, all of which were brought against banks or providers of online and mobile banking applications.