Preferential Networks Wins Alice Denials, Adds Suit Against T-Mobile

On August 31, 2017, District Judge Rodney Gilstrap adopted the earlier recommendation of Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne that the portion of a motion, filed by AT&T, mounting an Alice challenge to claims of a patent asserted by Preferential Networks IP, LLC be denied. That same day, Preferential Networks filed a fourth lawsuit in the campaign, accusing T-Mobile (2:17-cv-00626) of infringement of the same patent through provision of “network throttling” mechanisms (e.g., restricting delivery of data to a user based on prior usage) within its network. The defendants in the campaign, begun last December, now include AT&T (AT&T Mobility, Cricket Wireless, New Cingular Wireless Services), Comcast, SoftBank Group (Boost Mobile, Sprint Spectrum, Virgin Mobile), and T-Mobile.