IDB Ventures LLC v. American Eagle Outfitters Inc.

Cases against American Eagle Outfitters (2:17-cv-00658), Charlotte Russe Holdings (2:17-cv-00660), and The Buckle (2:17-cv-00659) have been added to the campaign that IDB Ventures LLC, an affiliate of patent monetization firm IP Valuation Partners LLC (d/b/a IPVal), began this past summer. In July, IDB Ventures picked up the assertion of a single patent seen in two prior litigation campaigns. Execware, LLC, with the help of IP Navigation Group, LLC (d/b/a IPNav), asserted the patent in a campaign running from September 2011 to August 2016, at which time the patent was assigned to Listou Search Technologies LLC, an affiliate of Empire IP LLC. Listou Search Technologies then asserted it in a short-lived second campaign, from September 2016 to May 2017. The patent generally relates to changing a computer display based on entries in a dialog box, and the accused products, throughout all three campaigns, have been the various defendants’ websites, in particular, the tiled product displays presented based on the selection of certain features (e.g., color, size, etc.).

In a case before District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, an NPE has filed an opposition to several motions to dismiss arguing that a domestic corporation might be deemed to reside outside of its state of incorporation despite this past May’s TC Heartland decision. In TC Heartland, the US Supreme Court held that 1988 revisions to the general venue statute did not change (as the Federal Circuit had ruled) the previously understood residence of a domestic corporation for venue purposes: such a defendant “resides” only in the state in which it was incorporated. District courts have been grappling with the implications of this return to the earlier understanding of venue in patent cases in the weeks since TC Heartland was handed down. Script Security Solutions LLC, an affiliate of patent monetization firm Empire IP LLC, has now urged Judge Gilstrap to treat venue in Texas, a large state with multiple judicial districts, under a different portion of the general venue statute than was considered in TC Heartland, a decision involving a case brought in the small, single-district state of Delaware.

IDB Ventures LLC, an affiliate of patent monetization firm IP Valuation Partners LLC (d/b/a IPVal), has taken up the assertion of a patent (6,216,139) seen in two prior litigation campaigns. The ‘139 patent generally relates to changing a computer display based on entries in a dialog box, and the accused products, throughout all three campaigns, have been the various defendants websites, in particular, the tiled product displays presented based on the selection of certain features (e.g. color, size, etc.). Execware, LLC, with the help of IP Navigation Group, LLC (d/b/a IPNav), asserted the ‘139 patent in a campaign running from September 2011 to August 2016, at which time the patent was assigned to Listou Search Technologies LLC, an affiliate of Empire IP LLC. Listou Search Technologies then asserted the patent in a short-lived second campaign, from September 2016 to May 2017.