×

Federal Circuit Revives Two Former IBM Patents, Now Owned by Fortress, from Alice Invalidation

May 25, 2019

The Federal Circuit has breathed new life into a campaign begun by Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited in April 2016—before the Australian NPE began ramping up its litigation activity in 2017, before it acquired the large portfolio of patents from Pendrell Corporation in early 2018, and before it transferred control over its patent assets to Fortress Investment Group LLC in May 2018. Throughout 2016 and 2017, Uniloc accused a wide range of defendants of infringing up to four patents, sourced from IBM, through their software licensing and delivery systems. Multiple decisions in the Eastern District of Texas, however, invalidated all four patents under Alice, stopping the campaign in its tracks. Now, in a May 24, 2019 nonprecedential opinion, the Federal Circuit has reversed the district court as to two of those patents while affirming the invalidity of the other two. The case has been remanded back to Texas for further proceedings in the underlying cases, filed against ADP, Big Fish Games, BitDefender, and Kaspersky Lab, but the decision could revive litigation dropped as to other defendants as well.


Subscription Required

This content requires a subscription to view

  • Over 7,000 news articles covering new patent cases, key policy decisions, and USPTO assignments
  • Advanced custom alerts for campaigns and entities
  • Proprietary litigation timelines
  • Full access to Federal Circuit, PTAB, and ITC dockets
  • Judge, venue, and law firm analytics



×
×