Fall Line Patents, LLC v. Choice Hotels International, Inc.

This past April, Fall Line Patents, LLC, an NPE formed in Oklahoma in January, initiated its first litigation campaign, suing American Airlines, Cinemark Holdings, and GrubHub in the Eastern District of Texas. A couple of weeks after dismissal (with prejudice) in the GrubHub case, the NPE has added two more defendants in the same district, asserting the same patent (9,454,748) against Choice Hotels (6:17-cv-00407) and Uber (6:17-cv-00408). The ‘748 patent generally relates to managing user-provided data based on the user’s location, and mobile apps that transmit location-specific information are the accused products. Fall Line alleges proper venue over each defendant (formed in Delaware) based on the presence of several Choice Hotel properties in the district and based on Uber’s “providing its ride-sharing service in this district” and purportedly maintaining “a regular and established place of business” in Plano.

Fall Line Patents, LLC, an NPE formed in Oklahoma this past January, has filed its first litigation, accusing American Airlines (6:17-cv-00204), Cinemark Holdings (6:17-cv-00204), and GrubHub (6:17-cv-00204) of infringing a single patent (9,454,748) generally related to managing user-provided data based on the user’s location. Mobile apps that transmit location-specific information are the focus of the NPE’s complaints. The ‘748 patent has not been asserted previously in litigation, but its earlier (and currently, its only) family member (7,822,816) has, in a somewhat storied campaign lasting from March 2011 to May 2014.