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MIT Sues Ford over Fuel Injection Systems
New Patent Litigation
Together, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (as patent owner) and Ethanol Boosting Systems, LLC (EBS) (as exclusive licensee) have sued Ford (1:19-cv-00196), accusing the automaker of infringing four patents from a family of over two dozen, the asserted patents generally related to fuel management systems involving both port and direct fuel injection. After recounting a lengthy history of alleged communications with Ford over its patented technology, the plaintiffs accuse Ford of infringement through the provision of certain engines and fuel management systems, including its 2.7L EcoBoost, 3.5L EcoBoost, High Output 3.5L EcoBoost, 3.3L Ti-VCT, and 5.0L Ti-VCT V8 engines and fuel management systems.
February 11, 2019
Under Alice Attack, Axcess International Nevertheless Expands Remote Security Campaign
New Patent Litigation
Axcess International, Inc. has added two more District of Delaware suits to the litigation campaign that it began in December 2016 in the Eastern District of Texas, suing Robert Bosch (Bosch Security Systems) (1:19-cv-00226) and Honeywell (1:19-cv-00227). The plaintiff continues to assert a single patent that a Texas claim construction order characterizes as related to “integrating the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) with video data to provide video verification of an event, such as authorized access (or attempted unauthorized access) to a secure area”. Infringement allegations throughout the campaign have focused on remote security systems—for these latest defendants, Bosch’s Access Professional Edition-Video Verification and Honeywell’s WIN-PAK SE.
February 10, 2019
Korean NPE Expands Campaign Targeting the Connection of Smartphones to In-Vehicle Infotainment Systems
New Patent Litigation
Dale Progress Ltd. has opened up a second front in its sole litigation campaign, begun late last year in Texas, with a new set of Delaware cases against BMW (1:19-cv-00253), Fiat Chrysler (FCA, Ferrari) (1:19-cv-00254, 1:19-cv-00255), Ford (1:19-cv-00256), GM (1:19-cv-00257), Nissan (1:19-cv-00259), Subaru (1:19-cv-00260), TATA (Jaguar Landrover) (1:19-cv-00258), and Zhejiang Geely (Volvo) (1:19-cv-00261). Each new complaint, and each operative complaint in the prior suits, now asserts two related patents broadly pertaining to remotely displaying content from a “portable device”. At issue throughout are technologies used to connect a smartphone to an in-vehicle infotainment system, including displaying an adapted version of the smartphone’s interface on a dashboard screen.
February 10, 2019
Implicit Expands Network Management Campaign Against Both New and Familiar Defendants
New Patent Litigation
Implicit, LLC has filed a new round of Eastern District of Texas cases in its long-running litigation targeting network management products, hitting CA Technologies (2:19-cv-00038), Fortinet (2:19-cv-00039), and Imperva (2:19-cv-00040), all defendants new to the campaign, as well as Juniper Networks (2:19-cv-00037), Sandvine (2:19-cv-00041), and Sophos (2:19-cv-00042), all sued previously. In earlier court decisions, the patents have been divided into Implicit’s “Demultiplexing Patents”, generally related to “technology for computer message exchange processing and more specifically to technology for dynamically converting the form of the messages as the messages are being exchanged”, and its “Applet Patents”, broadly concerning “server technology for providing applets and applications to a client computer”. More than a dozen Implicit patents have been asserted since this campaign began, with eight patents—five from the first category and three from the second—at issue in these newest complaints. All six defendants are accused of infringing the three applet patents, with all but Sophos charged with infringement of the five demultiplexing patents.
February 10, 2019
January 2019 RPX Acquisitions Update
Patent Market, Patent Watch
RPX completed a number of acquisitions in January 2019 on behalf of its patent risk management network. The acquisitions occurred within the following market sectors: Mobile Communications and Devices; E-Commerce and Software; Networking; and Semiconductors.
February 10, 2019
Apple Files DJ Against NPE Asserting Former BlackBerry Patents in USB Charging Campaign
New Patent Litigation
Apple has brought a declaratory judgment (DJ) action against Fundamental Innovation Systems International LLC, an NPE with active campaigns in the US and Europe, and its corporate parent, Fundamental Innovation Systems International Holdings LLC (collectively, “FISI”). Apple’s DJ complaint (3:19-cv-00638), filed on February 5 in the Northern District of California, seeks a judgment of noninfringement for three categories of products that include certain adapters, mobile devices, and wearables. The 12 patents-in-suit originated with BlackBerry and include a group of USB charging patents that FISI has asserted in a campaign hitting Huawei, LG Electronics (LGE), Samsung, and ZTE. They were among the roughly 200 patent assets that BlackBerry assigned to FISI in a late 2015 transaction—a multi-million dollar deal, according to public records, that was embroiled in strife and gamesmanship.
February 9, 2019
Cox and Verizon Added as Defendants in IPVal’s Contemporary Display Campaign
New Patent Litigation
Contemporary Display LLC, an affiliate of monetization firm IP Valuation Partners LLC (d/b/a IPVal), has added cases filed against Cox Communications (1:19-cv-00224) and Verizon (1:19-cv-00225) to the litigation campaign that it began last April. The NPE asserts two patents familiar to the campaign while debuting two in litigation for the first time, all of them acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) in an August 2017 transfer of five families of disparate origins. Cox is alleged to infringe through the provision of certain DVRs (while an apparently misfiled document on PACER has made the exact allegations against Verizon unclear); the patents generally relate to an adapter for a video monitor, an on-screen system for managing the inputs to a television, and a device switching between “sessions”.
February 9, 2019
F5 Networks Sued over Server Performance Patent Challenged Under Alice by Barracuda Networks
New Patent Litigation
Accelerated Memory Tech, LLC, an entity affiliated with Atlanta-based monetization firm IP Investments Group, LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group), has filed a third case in its sole campaign litigating a single patent generally related to improving server performance. The latest defendant is F5 Networks (2:19-cv-00183); the new case, filed in the Western District of Washington, joins a Northern District of Georgia suit against Barracuda Networks still active after an apparent settlement in a prior case brought against Citrix (the first suit filed in this campaign, in April 2018). F5 Networks is accused of infringement through the provision of its BIG-IP Platform, which allegedly “includes services such as WebAccelerator that perform functions such as handling HTTP requests, dynamic caching, and load balancing”. Meanwhile, last month, Accelerated Memory filed its opposition to a Barracuda Networks motion challenging the patent-in-suit as invalid under Alice.
February 8, 2019
Mimzi Targets Google and Microsoft Functionality in New Complaints Against Mobile Device Makers
New Patent Litigation
Inventor-controlled Mimzi, LLC has expanded its sole litigation campaign, begun last November, by adding suits that target the voice response functionality provided by either Alphabet (Google) or Microsoft in mobile devices made and/or sold by Acer (1:19-cv-00272), ASUSTek (1:19-cv-00273), or HTC (1:19-cv-00274). Each new case identifies such devices for that defendant, providing infringement allegations with respect to the inclusion of voice response technology from Google (Voice Action, Search by Voice, Google Voice Search, Google Now, Google Assistant) or Microsoft (Cortana). For example, in the Acer suit, Mimzi calls out the Liquid Zest smartphone and Iconia One 10 tablet for their inclusion of the former; the Liquid Jade Primo smartphone and the Switch 7 Black Edition and Aspire E 15 laptops, of the latter. These latest defendants join Foursquare Labs and Trip Advisor in the campaign, both accused of infringement over apps made for “use on mobile devices that use the Apple, Android, Microsoft or other operating systems”.
February 8, 2019
Full Federal Circuit Refuses to Revive Mandamus Review of Gilstrap Venue Ruling, as Dissent Highlights Resources “Needlessly Wasted” While Parties Await Answers
Patent Litigation Feature
The US Supreme Court’s decision in TC Heartland caused a dramatic realignment in patent venue through its holding that a corporation “resides” for venue purposes in its state of incorporation. However, while TC Heartland provided some much-needed clarity as to that first prong of the patent venue statute (28 USC Section 1400(b)), courts have split as to the statute’s second prong, which provides that venue is proper where a defendant “has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business”. One such ruling applying that prong, handed down last July by District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, has highlighted the tension in this area of venue law. In that order, issued in a case that Fortress Investment Group LLC affiliate Seven Networks LLC brought against Google, Judge Gilstrap denied the defendant’s venue challenge, holding that certain Google servers maintained within third-party facilities in the Eastern District of Texas constituted a “regular and established place of business”. On February 5, the full Federal Circuit declined to revisit that decision for a second time, following its October denial of Google’s petition for mandamus review—once again prompting a sharp rebuke from dissenting Circuit Judge Jimmie Reyna (2018-0152).
February 8, 2019