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Texas Jury Returns Verdict in Conversant Damages Retrial
Patent Litigation Feature
A Texas jury has returned a new damages verdict in litigation brought by Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) against LG Electronics (LGE) (2:14-cv-00912). In September 2016, another jury issued a verdict of infringement in the case’s first trial against LGE, but the court granted LGE a new trial on damages in September 2018 due to a series of errors made by the plaintiff’s damages expert. The resulting verdict in that second trial included a damages award of $3.5M.
March 1, 2019
Data Scape Sues Fifteenth Defendant Since Late December
New Patent Litigation
Verizon (Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless) (6:19-cv-00174) is the latest company to be sued in the growing litigation campaign of Irish NPE Data Scape Limited, joining Box, Dell, and Dropbox as defendants in the Western District of Texas. Since late December, Data Scape has also filed multiple cases in districts in California, Colorado, and Texas, each asserting a subset of nearly two dozen patents that the NPE received from Sony in March 2017. The patents generally relate to storing and syncing data files in a distributed computing environment, with infringement allegations throughout the campaign focusing on products and services that sync documents and data across servers and client devices. Against Verizon, Data Scape targets the provision of smartphones using the Verizon Cloud application (offering data backup and sync features), including the Palm smartphone; and of the “Verizon Connect ‘Work’ software and service, the ‘Fleetmatics Work’ software and service, and the Work Mobile application”.
February 28, 2019
BlackBerry Sues Twitter in Growing Campaign of Its Own
New Patent Litigation
BlackBerry has added Twitter (2:19-cv-01444) to the litigation campaign that it launched in July 2016, having already hit Avaya, BLU Products, Facebook, Nokia, and Snap to date. While the campaign has seen many more patents asserted, this latest complaint accuses Twitter of infringing six, generally related to various subject matters, including mobile devices, messaging services, and related networking equipment, through the provision of a variety of features of Twitter Ads and the Twitter app. The campaign has also seen Alphabet (Google) challenge several BlackBerry patents in inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), with mixed results, some of which each party has subsequently appealed to the Federal Circuit.
February 27, 2019
Computer Hardware Campaign Sees Second Round of Suits over Patents Acquired from IV
New Patent Litigation
Longhorn HD LLC has filed a second wave in the litigation campaign that it began last May, suing Advantech (2:19-cv-00061), Inventec (2:19-cv-00063), Pegatron (ASRock) (2:19-cv-00062), Quanta Computer (2:19-cv-00064), and Wistron (Wiwynn) (2:19-cv-00065) in the Eastern District of Texas. The NPE asserts four of the seven patents already at issue in the campaign, targeting the defendants’ provision of hard disk drives with SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Report Technology) functionality, rack-mounted computers, and “hot-swappable” ATA hard disk drives “configured with Redundant Array of Multiple Disks (‘RAID’)”. Longhorn HD acquired the patents, themselves of disparate origins, in March 2018 from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV).
February 26, 2019
One Case Added, Others Transferred, in SynchView DVR Campaign
New Patent Litigation
Last week saw SynchView Technologies, LLC, an affiliate of Atlanta-based IP Investments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group), add a Northern District of Georgia case against Cox Communications (1:19-cv-00931) to its expanding DVR campaign, as well as transfers of earlier cases, filed separately against Charter and Consolidated Communications, both to the District of Delaware. SynchView has asserted a single patent, generally pertaining to digital video recorders (DVRs), throughout the campaign, which has targeted the provision of various DVRs as well as related television service. Here, the NPE focuses on Cox’s provision of its Cisco 8642 DVR and its Motorola DCT-6412 DVR, each with related cable service.
February 26, 2019
Network Management Campaign Snags Oracle
New Patent Litigation
Akoloutheo, LLC has added a February suit against Oracle (4:19-cv-00135) to the cases that it filed against Mitel Networks and Palo Alto Networks in January, all in the Eastern District of Texas. Throughout the campaign, the NPE has principally targeted network management platforms, here, Oracle’s provision of “software systems, cloud-based software, and software as a service (SaaS) or platform as a service (PaaS) for managing, analyzing and interrogating networked resources—including, but not limited to, "Oracle’s Oracle Analytics Cloud, Exadata Cloud, Database Cloud, Data Visualization, and Essbase software systems”. The sole patent asserted generally concerns “controlling any type of transaction between providers and consumers of information services”.
February 25, 2019
Cable Boxes Targeted in New Campaign over Playlist Management Patents
New Patent Litigation
Newly formed AVInnov LLC has initiated a litigation campaign over four patents, developed by disparate companies but all apparently received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). The patents generally relate to creating, managing, and storing playlists. AVInnov has accused Charter Communications (1:19-cv-00373) of infringement through the provision of its “Charter Communications Cable Boxes”. This new litigation sits among many recent campaigns focused on patents that have shaken loose from IV over the past couple of years.
February 25, 2019
Standing Battle Escalates in Fortress-Uniloc Cases as Redactions Get Rolled Back, but Key Licensing Terms Remain Sealed
Patent Litigation Feature
A contentious battle over standing has continued to develop in litigation between Apple and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited (Uniloc). Earlier this month, District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California rejected Apple’s argument that Uniloc’s purported “defaults” under a complex set of agreements with Fortress Investment Group LLC had deprived Uniloc of standing by shifting sufficient rights in the asserted patents to Fortress. Apple has now sought permission to move for reconsideration, asserting that Judge Alsup erred by adopting an argument not briefed by the parties and by finding that Uniloc had cured any defaults that had existed. Meanwhile, a related dispute over confidentiality has also heated up in the wake of Judge Alsup’s mid-January order that Uniloc could not justify the broad withholding of details about its agreements with Fortress. Uniloc has now filed a motion for reconsideration of that decision, seeking a much more limited set of redactions—in the process, revealing new details about the evolving Uniloc-Fortress relationship.
February 24, 2019
Texas State Records Point to Potential Enforcement Campaigns by Newcomer Endpoint IP, Possibly Involving IV Divestitures
Patent Market, Patent Watch
This year has so far seen monetization firm IPValuation Partners LLC (d/b/a IPVal) open up just one new campaign, via its PC Coma LLC affiliate, which this past week sued Acer, ASUSTek, HP, and Lenovo over a patent broadly concerning temperature control in a portal computer. IPVal has several other active campaigns, however, a number of them asserting patents received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). Meanwhile, Endpoint IP LLC, which was launched last summer by an IPVal cofounder, looks poised to kick off multiple new litigation campaigns—perhaps also involving IV divestitures.
February 24, 2019
Ironworks Adds Another Defendant to Mobile Devices Campaign That Has Seen Multiple Settlements and One Recent Appeal
New Patent Litigation
Last month, Ironworks Patents LLC filed a new lawsuit against ASUSTek (2:19-cv-00016) in the Eastern District of Texas, asserting a familiar set of patents generally related to alerts, including tactile alerts, on a “mobile station”. That case followed on the heels of a settlement in the most recent previous case, filed against BLU Products in the Southern District of Florida; a dismissal in a set of district court and appellate actions against Apple; a settlement with TCL Communication; and an appeal from final judgment stemming from an unfavorable claim construction order in a Northern District of California case filed against Samsung. Ironworks has targeted features on smartphones and tablets for silencing “alert sounds” announcing, e.g., the receipt of a call, identifying in this most recent complaint ASUSTek’s ZenFone, PadFone, Memo Pad, VivoTab, ZenPad, and ROG phone devices.
February 22, 2019