Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC v. DIRECTV, LLC et al CAFC

Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC does not appear to be giving up its litigation against the two remaining active defendants in its content streaming campaign, BlackBerry and Netflix. In recent status reports filed with the Northern District of California, the parties noted the invalidation of myriad claims from asserted Affinity Labs patents as a result of multiple inter partes reviews; however, the NPE indicated that it intends to proceed as to the one claim left standing (because the PTAB did not institute trial as to that claim). In addition, Affinity Labs has filed a new complaint against BlackBerry (3:18-cv-03194), asserting three patents mentioned in its status report in the earlier BlackBerry case as forming the basis of a potential motion to amend that prior complaint. The accused products are certain smartphones built on the BlackBerry or Android operating systems.

The Federal Circuit has upheld a decision by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) invalidating all challenged claims in a content streaming patent (7,953,390) asserted by Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC (2015-1933). In a one-page, per curiam order issued on May 9, 2016 without an accompanying opinion, the court affirmed the PTAB’s final decision in an inter partes review (IPR) proceeding filed by HTC, LG Electronics (LGE, which withdrew after institution), and Samsung (IPR2014-00209, joined with IPR2014-00212). In that decision, entered on May 13, 2015, the PTAB invalidated claims 16, 19, and 20 as obvious over prior art.

Affinity Labs of Texas, LLC continues to target media streaming, suing Amazon, DirecTV, MLB, NBA, and NHL. Four of the cases assert a patent related to broadcasting (7,970,379), while the suit against Amazon asserts a patent that relates to media content management (8,688,085). In all the cases, streaming media services and apps that allow users to stream media on a smartphone or tablet are the accused products. This is the first time the ‘085 patent has been asserted in litigation but the ‘379 patent has been seen in previous Affinity Labs suits. The entity has filed a number of litigations asserting a portfolio of patents related to media management and delivery. Accused products in the entity’s campaign are various video and audio streaming services made and sold by defendants.