Unified Messaging Solutions (UMS) [NPE] filed 14 separate suits against Ameren, Careerbuilder, Commerce Bancshares, Discover, Groupon, Laclede Gas Company, Northern Illinois Gas Company, Orbitz, Scottrade, Southwest Airlines, Sprint Nextel, UBS Financial, United Airlines, and Walgreen, alleging that the defendants’ webmail services infringe five patents related to web-based messaging systems.  UMS has filed four prior suits since March 2011 against over 35 defendants including AT&T, eBay, Facebook, Google, RIM, T-Mobile, Time Warner, Travelocity, Twitter, Verizon, and Yahoo.  UMS, a subsidiary of Acacia Research, is the exclusive licensee of the patents-in-suit, which originated with J2 Global Communications and were assigned to Advanced Messaging Technologies in May 2010.  3/1, Northern District of Illinois, 1:2012cv01486; 1:2012cv01487; 1:2012cv01488; 1:2012cv01489; 1:2012cv01490; 1:2012cv01491; 1:2012cv01492; 1:2012cv01493; 1:2012cv01494; Eastern District of Missouri, 4:2012cv00367; 4:2012cv00368; 4:2012cv00369; 4:2012cv00370; 4:2012cv00371.