Alert Signal Intellectual Property, LLC v. Apple Inc.

After roughly a year hiatus, Alert Signal Intellectual Property, LLC (Alert Signal IP) has revived its sole litigation campaign, filing suit in the Western District of Texas against Alphabet (Google) (6:20-cv-00644) over four patents generally related to managing alerts based on a device’s velocity. Alert Signal IP targets the provision of certain Pixel series smartphones, with features for prioritizing or disabling notifications in different environments (e.g., while driving). The case against the most recent defendant, Apple, which saw the same four patents asserted, ended in an April 2019 dismissal with prejudice shortly after an unopposed transfer from the Eastern District of Texas to the Northern District of California.

Alert Signal Intellectual Property, LLC (Alert Signal IP), an apparent affiliate of inventor Fred DuFresne and/or his monetization firms Cerinet USA Inc. and ipCapital Licensing Company (d/b/a Cerinet IP Licensing), has filed suit in the Eastern District of Texas against Apple (2:18-cv-00177). All members of a four-patent family are asserted in the new complaint, which targets iPhones running iOS 11 or above, alleging infringement through aspects of its Do Not Disturb feature that disable alerts when the user is driving by detecting the phone’s physical velocity (“Do Not Disturb While Driving” mode) and that allow priority messages to trigger alerts.