Intellectual Ventures II LLC, a subsidiary of Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), has added two Western District of Texas cases against Tesla (1:24-cv-00390, 6:24-cv-00188), one in the Austin Division and the other in the Waco Division, to the automotive wing of one of the longest-running litigation campaigns, active since 2011. The same dozen patents are asserted in the two complaints, with infringement allegations targeting the provision of automobiles and related products that support the Autopilot and Connectivity services, as well as the use of Kubernetes within the “Tesla Infrastructure”.
Two of the patents-in-suit (9,232,158; 10,292,138) have appeared in the complaints previously filed against GM, Honda, Toyota, and Volvo. All but the Volvo suit have concluded. IV and Volvo have submitted their claim construction briefs to District Judge Alan D. Albright, but the court has yet to resolve a fully briefed Volvo motion to dismiss for improper service and improper venue. Judge Albright has reset the claim construction hearing for next month. The ‘158 patent, and its asserted family member (7,916,180), are broadly directed to certain cameras, while the ‘138 patent, and its asserted family member (7,181,743), are broadly directed to wireless communications.
The other new patents to this campaign include the 6,894,639 patent, generally related to “distinguishing targets from background clutter”; the 7,336,805 patent, to using image data to assist in the “guidance of a motor vehicle”; the 8,898,395 patent, to memory management; and the 9,706,500; 10,136,416; 10,952,153; 11,206,670; and 11,664,889 patents, to wireless networking. They are among more than 125 patents that have been asserted in this sprawling campaign since its 2011 start.
In its complaints, IV pleads versions of its history, as cofounded by former Microsoft executive (eventually, CTO) Nathan Myhrvold in 2000, IV acquiring “more than 70,000 patents covering important inventions in the Internet era”, including in “[o]ne area of particular importance in today’s Big Data driven technology sector”: “the emergence of cluster computing”. IV has since been offloading many of its patent holdings, while continuing to litigate others, including the more than 120 patents asserted over the life of this long-running campaign.
The Waco Division case landed before Judge Albright; the Austin Division suit, before District Judge Robert Pitman. 4/12, Western District of Texas.
