March 30, 2012 – Business Process Modeling Solutions d/b/a DE-BPMS [NPE], a subsidiary of Acacia Research, filed two separate suits on March 29th against IBM and Red Hat, alleging that IBM’s Websphere Process Server and Red Hat’s JBoss Application Server infringe patent number 5,873,094, which relates to using model information control systems to execute business applications.  In May 2003, two companies named Starpay.com and VIMachine filed suit against VISA, alleging infringement of a patent number 5,903,878.  Kirit Talati is the named inventor on both the ’878 and ’094 patents.  In July 2009, VISA filed an 8-K indicating that the May 2003 case ended in a settlement and licensing agreement.  VISA paid $2.75 million for a license to the ’878 patent, and an additional $500,000 to MedicalMap for a 5-year covenant not to sue regarding the ’094 patent (and three other patents in the Talati portfolio).  The ’094 patent was assigned to MedicalMap in March 2008, but the assignment to Acacia has yet to be recorded in the USPTO database.