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Inventor-Controlled Plaintiff Sues Polycom
New Patent Litigation
Polycom (2:18-cv-00331) is the target of a new suit filed by inventor-controlled DirectPacket Research, Inc., apparently doing business as “directPacket Research”. The plaintiff asserts three patents generally related to multimedia communications across computer networks; Polycom is accused of infringement through provision of Video Border Proxy (VBP), a “firewall traversal and security solution”. In June 2011, the patents-in-suit were transferred from DirectPacket, Inc., an “audio visual integration” and “telepresence” consultancy operating under the name “OneVision Solutions” and also controlled by two of the patents’ named inventors.
June 26, 2018
eBay Sued over Anonymous Buyer-Seller Communications Service
New Patent Litigation
Byteborne Technologies Ltd. has filed suit against eBay (1:18-cv-00931), asserting a single patent generally related to facilitating anonymous communications between devices. The new complaint accuses eBay of infringement through the provision of features that allow buyers and sellers to communicate anonymously using email. Byteborne is incorporated in the United Kingdom and is controlled by the named inventor of the asserted patent, Edward Yaw Asiedu.
June 26, 2018
In Power-over-Ethernet Campaign, ChriMar Unloads on a Host of Product Manufacturers Through Complaint Filed Against Anixter
New Patent Litigation
Early in June, affiliated NPEs ChriMar Systems, Inc. and ChriMar Holding Company, LLC (collectively, “ChriMar”) filed its second case of 2018, accusing Anixter (6:18-cv-00248) of infringement through the sale (and/or offer for sale) of products made by one of a long list of identified “unlicensed manufacturers”. ChriMar breaks the accused products into two categories: (1) those that receive power through an Ethernet port, providing as example categories “cameras, speakers, phones, access points, and keypads” and (2) those that provide power to another device through an Ethernet port, providing “PoE (Power over Ethernet) switches, midspans/injectors, and network video recorders” as example categories. The new complaint adheres to ChriMar’s pattern of asserting patents earlier in suit, together with the most recently issued member of the same family, which generally relates to communicating information about remote electronic equipment on a network.
June 25, 2018
Longhorn IP Snags Semiconductor Patents from Sharp
Industrial, Patent Litigation Feature
A May assignment from Sharp to a newly formed affiliate of Longhorn IP LLC was recorded with the USPTO this month, closely following the NPE’s acquisition in early May of a portfolio from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). Longhorn IP has launched one campaign in the US to date, suing Micron, Nanya, Renesas, SanDisk, SMIC, Toshiba, UMC, and Western Digital over patents originating with AMD. It also has active litigation in Asia.
June 24, 2018
Another Former Nero AG Patent Shows Up in Court, This One Targeting Video Streaming Services
In April, RPX noted the transfer of former Nero AG patents, each from a Delaware entity to a Texas entity in apparent preparation for litigation. Now, a second of those recipients, Hertl Media LLC, has indeed launched a campaign in Texas, suing Amazon (3:18-cv-01638) in the Northern District and Comcast (4:18-cv-02119) in the Southern District. The patent-in-suit generally relates to multi-language buffering during media playback, with Hertl Media’s infringement allegations focused on multi-language accommodations in the parties’ respective streaming services, both identified (in seeming error as to Comcast) as “Prime Video”. The first of those Texas entities to sue, Checksum Ventures LLC, did so in mid-May, with three more litigation campaigns likely on their way from affiliated entities.
June 23, 2018
Former Enounce Video Playback Portfolio, Previously Asserted Against Apple, at Issue in New Suit Against Alphabet
Virentem Ventures LLC (d/b/a Enounce) has filed a lawsuit asserting 11 patents against Alphabet (Google, YouTube) (1:18-cv-00917). The plaintiff characterizes the general subject matter of the underlying technology purportedly covered by the patents-in-suit as “allowing users to select and alter playback speeds while viewing content”. Enounce accuses Google and subsidiary YouTube of infringement through the provision of devices and services (including “the Google Pixelbook, Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL hardware that render YouTube content via Chrome, Chrome apps, YouTube apps, the Google/YouTube servers, and/or hardware that renders YouTube TV content via Chrome”) that play YouTube, YouTube TV, and OnDemand YouTube TV content. At issue are certain YouTube features that alter video playback speed without affecting the pitch of the audio and that track the duration of displayed videos. Google is also accused of infringing one of the asserted patents through the provision of certain Nest video security products that skip to different portions of the video depending on certain criteria (e.g., the detection of motion).
June 22, 2018
Supreme Court Sidesteps Presumption Against Extraterritoriality, Allows Lost Profit Damages for Infringement through Export of Specialized Components
The US Supreme Court has issued its decision in WesternGeco v. ION Geophysical, ruling that patent plaintiffs may recover lost profits damages when an infringer has made specialized components for an invention that gets assembled abroad (2016-1011). However, the Court’s 7-2 majority opinion, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, effectively sidestepped the underlying issue of the presumption against extraterritoriality, under which courts presume that federal statutes do not apply outside of the US. Rather, the majority held that the presumption was not triggered by the provision governing the type of infringement at issue, 35 USC Section 271(f)(2), holding that relevant behavior for that provision—the assembly of the infringing parts—was domestic conduct. Justice Neil Gorsuch dissented, joined by Justice Stephen Breyer, asserting that lost profits for foreign sales were barred by the plain text of the Patent Act and warning that the majority’s holding could invite foreign courts to enforce international patent rights based on conduct within the US.
June 22, 2018
Texas Jury Issues Infringement Verdict for Korean Research University in Semiconductor Suit
A jury in the Eastern District of Texas has issued an infringement verdict for a US-based subsidiary of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), a South Korean state-run research university. On June 15, the jury found that Samsung had infringed a single KAIST patent through the provision of semiconductor products utilizing FinFET technology, also finding GlobalFoundries and Qualcomm to infringe through the provision of chips and devices that incorporate FinFET architectures. The verdict included a finding of willfulness as to Samsung and awarded $400M in damages against that defendant.
June 22, 2018
Former Paxfire Patents Asserted Against Cisco in New Networking Campaign
Bushnell Hawthorne, LLC has filed suit against Cisco (1:18-cv-00760), alleging infringement of two network communications patents, one generally related to modifying a DNS (Domain Name Service) request based on geography to identify the optimum server to handle the communication and the other characterized as using “predictive intelligence” to provide secure redirection. Bushnell Hawthorne accuses Cisco of infringing the first through provision of certain load balancing and routing products, including Global Site Selector and GeoDB; the second, through provision of certain security products, including Umbrella and OpenDNS. The patents were originally developed at Paxfire, a defunct operating company with a somewhat storied past—a past that includes prior litigation against OpenDNS before its acquisition by Cisco.
June 21, 2018
After Alice Win, Ironworks Sues BLU Products
In the wake of the Northern District of California’s recent denial of a related Alice motion brought by Apple, Ironworks Patents LLC has filed suit against BLU Products (1:18-cv-22478) in the Southern District of Florida. The new complaint asserts one of the patents that survived in the Northern District, as well as a later-issuing relative, both generally related to tactile alerts on a “mobile station”. Smartphones have been at issue throughout this campaign, with Ironworks accusing BLU Products of infringement through the manufacture and sale of “at least the Advance, Dash, Energy, Grand, Life, Neo, Pure, R, S, Studio, and Vivo Series smartphones”.
June 20, 2018