Traxcell Technologies, LLC v. Huawei Technologies USA Inc. DC CAFC

Traxcell Technologies, LLC has sued DoorDash (6:22-cv-00691), Grubhub (6:22-cv-00690), Lyft (6:22-cv-00689), Tier Mobility (Skinny Labs d/b/a Spin) (6:22-cv-00688), and Uber (6:22-cv-00687) over the most recent patent to issue in a family that has been in suit in this campaign since 2017. The patent generally relates to providing navigation information on a wireless device, with infringement allegations in these latest complaints focused on features—within the defendants’ respective “technology platform[s] for connecting consumers with” either “local businesses and merchants” or “ride-sharing services”—related to tracking arrival times and locations of drivers (Lyft, Uber), tracking orders (DoorDash, GrubHub), or locating/tracking rental scooters (Spin).

Traxcell Technologies, LLC has filed a second pair of Western District of Texas cases, one against each of Alphabet (Google) (6:21-cv-01312) and Apple (6:21-cv-01314). The new set comes after District Judge Alan D. Albright ruled that Traxcell’s unopposed motions to dismiss January 2021 cases against the same two defendants, though improperly labeled, functioned as notices of voluntary dismissal. Upon filing, those “notices” ended the prior cases, prompting these new suits, which focus on the most recent patent in the family-in-suit. Two earlier members from the same family have been dropped, likely in response to an October 2021 Federal Circuit decision affirming noninfringement rulings in litigation that Traxcell filed back in 2017.

Traxcell Technologies, LLC filed January 2021 cases against Alphabet (Google) and Apple, both in the Western District of Texas and each alleging infringement of two patents generally related to providing navigation information on a wireless device. On August 5, Apple (3:21-cv-06059) filed a complaint seeking a declaratory judgment from the Northern District of California of noninfringement of a third, more recent patent from the same family. The next day Traxcell filed motions for leave to amend its West Texas complaints to add that third patent to those cases, both of which have seen early motions to dismiss as well as an Apple motion to stay, pending the outcome of Federal Circuit appeals from earlier suits in this campaign.

Following recent suits against Alphabet (Google) and Verizon (Verizon Wireless Personal Communications), targeting Google Maps and Apple Maps, respectively, inventor-controlled Traxcell Technologies, LLC has added Apple itself (6:21-cv-00074) to its sole litigation campaign, launched in 2017. Two patents, generally related to providing navigation information on a wireless device, are asserted, with infringement allegations targeting the provision of Apple Maps and devices that support it, including “smartphones, tablets, iPods, desktop computers, and notebook computers”.

Late last year, Traxcell Technologies, LLC filed a second suit against Verizon, targeting the provision of certain location-based services, including Apple Maps. The plaintiff has followed that December complaint up with a new case against Alphabet (Google) (6:21-cv-00023), also filed in the Western District of Texas. Both of the patents asserted belong to the now familiar family of eleven, all generally related to locating a wireless device and “then using the location for other applications, such as for improving communications” with the device. Members of the family have been in litigation since January 2017.

Traxcell Technologies, LLC has filed a second suit against Verizon (Verizon Wireless Personal Communications) (6:20-cv-01175), this one in the Western District of Texas. Five patents, four new to this campaign, all generally related to locating a wireless device and “then using the location for other applications, such as for improving communications” with the device, are asserted in the new complaint, which again targets certain location-based services, including self-organizing network (SON) technology (e.g., the complaint identifying solutions allegedly provided by Ericsson) and navigation products (e.g., identifying Apple Maps this time, rather than Google Maps). This second case comes during Traxcell’s appeals of multiple claim construction and noninfringement rulings from the Eastern District of Texas that have halted the plaintiff’s remaining cases there.

Inventor-controlled Traxcell Technologies, LLC has filed another round of litigation against Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia, targeting both companies in a single Texas complaint that also names codefendant HMD (2:18-cv-00412). The complaint alleges the infringement of three patents, two of which the NPE added to the campaign in an August complaint against Huawei (2:18-cv-00354), which was also sued in the campaign’s first wave of litigation in January 2017 along with Alcatel-Lucent and Nokia. At issue in Traxcell’s latest complaint are the defendants’ smartphones as used with cellular data networks (including those operated by AT&T,  Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, each of which the NPE previously sued in October 2017) to show the devices’ location on a map using the Google Maps app.

Citing Traxcell Technologies, LLC’s accusations in a case filed against AT&T in the same jurisdiction last October, Telenav has asked the Eastern District of Texas for a declaratory judgment that it does not infringe one of the four patents earlier asserted. Telenav notes that the NPE accused the AT&T Navigator app of infringing the patent, which generally relates to a system for maintaining the expected performance of a wireless network based on the location of mobile devices. AT&T Navigator is a Telenav product, prompting AT&T to seek indemnification. Traxcell has filed this campaign in two waves, one in January 2017 against device makers and the other in October 2017 against wireless carriers, the former resulting in extensive motion practice over the sufficiency of Traxcell’s infringement contentions that led to sanctions against the plaintiff.

Inventor-controlled Traxcell Technologies, LLC has filed a second round in the litigation campaign that it began this past January. The new suits assert all members of a four-patent family, generally related to a system for maintaining the expected performance of a wireless network based on the location of mobile devices, against carriers AT&T (2:17-cv-00718), Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) (2:17-cv-00720), SoftBank Group (Sprint) (2:17-cv-00719), and Verizon (2:17-cv-00721). These new cases have been filed as the remaining active defendants in the first round of Traxcell’s campaign—China Huaxin Post & Telecommunication Economy Development Center (Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise), Huawei, Nokia, and Samsung—attack the sufficiency of the NPE’s infringement contentions in those cases. The infringement allegations in Traxcell’s new complaints focus on the defendants’ use of various products and services related to cellular service, including network management.

Traxcell Technologies, LLC, an inventor-controlled NPE based in Arizona, has launched its first litigation campaign, accusing Alcatel-Lucent (2:17-cv-00041), Huawei (2:17-cv-00042), Motorola (2:17-cv-00043), Nokia (2:17-cv-00044), and Samsung (2:17-cv-00045) of infringing two patents (8,977,284; 9,510,320) generally related to a system for maintaining the expected performance of a wireless network based on the location of mobile devices. Each defendant is alleged to infringe through the provision of network management solutions that utilize mobile device location tracking, including analytics tools, software, and services as well as “related servers, computers, storage devices, and wireless-network components”.