Kaldren LLC v. Suntrust Banks, Inc. DC

The QR code campaign of IP Edge LLC affiliate Kaldren LLC has gone national, picking up seven new defendants so far in August in various venues across the country, even as earlier cases also face venue changes. Kaldren has added two new suits in the Eastern District of Texas, the NPE’s original venue, chosen before the US Supreme Court’s May, TC Heartland decision: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (5:17-cv-00155) and Stemco (5:17-cv-00156). It has also filed new cases in the District of Delaware, against Cigna (1:17-cv-01160); in the Northern District of Illinois, against Rust-Oleum (1:17-cv-06149) and Trippe Manufacturing (1:17-cv-06151); and in the Western District of Wisconsin, against La Crosse Technology (3:17-cv-00661), Madison Gas & Electric (3:17-cv-00663), and Wausau Paper (3:17-cv-00664).

IP Edge LLC affiliate Kaldren LLC has added Kik US (1:17-cv-00752) and Snap (1:17-cv-00753) to its QR code campaign, suing the companies in Delaware (where they were formed) over a family of four patents (6,098,882; 6,176,427; 6,820,807; 8,281,999) generally related to encoding digital data in a machine-readable format. The defendants’ social networking apps are targeted for their use of QR codes. These latest filings follow a flurry of dismissals and transfers in Kaldren’s first two waves of litigation, one of which was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, the other in the Southern District of New York.

Four days after the US Supreme Court issued its TC Heartland decision, returning to its previous, narrower interpretation of where proper venue lies in patent cases, an affiliate of Texas-based monetization firm IP Edge LLC has taken the rare step of filing litigation outside the Eastern District of Texas. Venadium LLC has asserted the sole patent at issue in its campaign (6,330,549) in Northern District of Illinois complaints against three companies allegedly formed in that state—Paylocity (1:17-cv-04002), State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance (1:17-cv-04004), and W.W. Grainger (1:17-cv-03999)—as well as against two Delaware companies—Allstate Insurance (1:17-cv-03998) and Hyatt Hotels (1:17-cv-04001). Meanwhile, Somaltus LLC, another IP Edge affiliate, agreed to postpone a scheduling conference in an ongoing Eastern District of Texas case to allow that court to rule on a pending motion to dismiss filed by the Ohio defendant, The Noco Company, for lack of personal jurisdiction and improper venue. Late this past week, Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne granted the motion, transferring that case out of Texas to the Northern District of Ohio. Finally, last week two Southern District of New York judges asked IP Edge affiliate Kaldren LLC to submit letters explaining why venue is proper in cases that that the NPE brought earlier this month in that district.

Kaldren LLC, apparently among the many litigating affiliates of monetization firm IP Edge LLC, has filed a second round of suits in its litigation campaign, hitting American Express (1:17-cv-03625), The Hain Celestial Group (1:17-cv-03638), HSBC (1:17-cv-03640), JP Morgan Chase (1:17-cv-03641), and PNY Technologies (1:17-cv-03644). The new complaints again assert a family of four patents (6,098,882; 6,176,427; 6,820,807; 8,281,999), generally related to encoding digital data in a machine-readable format, with the defendants’ accused products and services targeted for their use of QR codes. Extensions of the deadline to answer have been granted in the cases from the first round, filed in March of this year against Citigroup, General Mills, J.D. Power and Associates, NeilMed Pharmaceuticals, Pioneer, Procter & Gamble, and SunTrust Banks.

For the sixth month in a row, a subsidiary of patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC has started a new litigation campaign. Kaldren LLC sued Citigroup (5:17-cv-00066), General Mills (5:17-cv-00067), J.D. Power and Associates (5:17-cv-00068), NeilMed Pharmaceuticals (5:17-cv-00069), Pioneer (5:17-cv-00070), Procter & Gamble (5:17-cv-00071), and SunTrust Banks (5:17-cv-00072), asserting a family of four patents (6,098,882; 6,176,427; 6,820,807; 8,281,999) generally related to encoding digital data in a machine-readable format. The new complaints target the use of QR codes in the defendants’ products and services.