Product Association Technologies LLC v. IAC Search and Media, Inc.

Display Technologies, LLC, one of the numerous NPEs controlled by inventor Leigh M. Rothschild, has filed a new round of cases in its ongoing litigation campaign. The plaintiff’s latest two lawsuits accuse Gibson Brands (Gibson Innovations) (1:17-cv-01426) and Pioneer (1:17-cv-01427) of infringement through the provision of various Bluetooth audio devices. Both are alleged to infringe through the provision of portable Bluetooth speakers, with Philips also alleged to infringe through Bluetooth-enabled home audio devices such as stereos, and Pioneer through Bluetooth-capable home theater systems. These two complaints, filed in Delaware, are the first that Display Technologies has filed outside of the Eastern District of Texas, and the first since its case against HTC was transferred from the latter district in June due to the US Supreme Court’s decision in TC Heartland.

Inventor Leigh M. Rothschild has continued his streak of conceding to venue challenges in Texas, less than a year after largely consolidating his litigation in that state. On July 18 and 24, dockets were opened in the Central District of California and Delaware, respectively, for the cases against ShopStyle (1:17-cv-00978) and Clique Media (2:17-cv-05463) brought by the Rothschild-controlled Product Association Technologies, LLC after the defendants filed motions to dismiss due to improper venue in the Eastern District of Texas cases against them (2:17-cv-00270, 2:17-cv-00265). Product Association also dismissed cases against IAC Search & Media (2:17-cv-00269) and Verizon (Altaba (f/k/a Yahoo), Polyvore, Yahoo Holding) (2:17-cv-00272, 2:17-cv-00268) with prejudice on July 20 after the defendants filed motions to dismiss for improper venue or, in the alternative, to dismiss due to the alleged invalidity of the asserted patent (6,154,738) under Alice. Each of those virtually identical motions was filed on June 26 and alleged that the ‘738 patent is impermissibly directed to the abstract idea of “locating and sending product information in response to a request”.

The first of two Texas entities created in 2017 by Leigh M. Rothschild has now filed suit. Product Association Technologies, LLC has accused Clique Media Group (2:17-cv-00265), eBay (2:17-cv-00266), IAC/InterActive (IAC Search & Media) (2:17-cv-00269), Lyst (2:17-cv-00267), Polyvore (2:17-cv-00268), ShopStyle (2:17-cv-00270), Shopzilla (2:17-cv-00271), and Yahoo (2:17-cv-00272) of infringing a single patent (6,154,738) generally related to the use of codes to identify products on the Internet. The accused products include e-commerce websites and associated apps that use product codes. This Rothschild campaign appears to be the first to assert a patent on which Rothschild himself is not a named inventor.