Omnitek Partners LLC v. Ford Motor Company

In late-May 2020, Omnitek Partners LLC launched its sole litigation campaign with six Western District of Texas suits, one each against Ford, GM, Here Global, Mazda, Toyota, and Zhejiang Geely (Volvo), followed by two Northern District of California suits in September 2020, one filed against each of Alpine Electronics and Apple. Two patents—generally related to electronically generating driving directions without text entry—are asserted against each defendant (except for GM), with the plaintiff’s infringement allegations targeting navigation software and/or related vehicle infotainment systems. Telenav, allegedly the provider of navigation technology for automobile manufacturer defendants Ford and GM, has now filed a complaint (5:20-cv-06684) seeking a declaratory judgment from the Northern District of California that it has not infringed those two patents.

Omnitek Partners LLC has added Northern District of California cases against Alpine Electronics (3:20-cv-06460) and Apple (3:20-cv-06457) to the campaign that it began in the Western District of Texas with late May suits against Ford, GM, Here Global, Mazda, Toyota, and Zhejiang Geely (Volvo). Two patents generally related to electronically generating driving directions without text entry are asserted against each of the now eight defendants. Omnitek targets the Alpine Navigation System (including models intended for installation in certain Jeep vehicles) and Apple Maps, respectively, with Apple further accused of infringement through the use of Route4Me Route Planner, a third-party navigation app available in the App Store.

Omnitek Partners LLC has joined a growing list of patent plaintiffs targeting the Automotive sector. The NPE has sued Ford (6:20-cv-00436), GM (6:20-cv-00437), Here Global (6:20-cv-00438), Mazda (6:20-cv-00439), Toyota (6:20-cv-00440), and Zhejiang Geely (Volvo) (6:20-cv-00441) over the provision of vehicle navigation services and vehicle infotainment systems that incorporate navigation services, asserting two patents generally related to electronically generating driving directions without text entry.