In late September, a Federal Circuit panel declined to disturb a ruling from Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright that a plaintiff can establish venue through an in-district property not leased until after the case was filed, based on facts that were not pleaded until an amended complaint. That decision by Judge Albright, in litigation filed by plaintiff Marble VOIP Partners LLC, appeared to stretch a prior Federal Circuit opinion that concerned an amended complaint grounding venue in newly pleaded facts, but where those facts predated the original complaint. Now, defendant RingCentral has asked the full Federal Circuit to reconsider the denial of its mandamus petition, asserting that the panel’s decision would “effectively shield[] improper venue rulings from appellate review” by allowing parties to retroactively fix venue defects through amended complaints, a “concept” that is “anathema” to the patent venue statutes.

This past week, the Federal Circuit denied a petition for a writ of mandamus sought by RingCentral after Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright rejected its renewed motion to dismiss for improper venue. RingCentral had argued that plaintiff Marble VOIP Partners LLC could not fix a venue flaw by filing an amended complaint identifying for the first time a lease for an in-district property that RingCentral signed after the date of the original complaint. The appeals court turned RingCentral away, as it has two other recent mandamus petitioners: Apple, in a case filed by Lionra Technologies Limited (involving a transfer for convenience); and Realtek Semiconductor, in one filed by ParkerVision, Inc. (involving alternative means of service).

Briefing is complete regarding RingCentral’s petition to the Federal Circuit for a writ of mandamus directing District Judge Alan D. Albright to dismiss a case filed by Marble VOIP Partners LLC in the Western District of Texas for improper venue. Marble VOIP mooted a first motion to dismiss for improper venue (only in the alternative to transfer the case for convenience) by filing an amended complaint that identifies a regular and established RingCentral place of business in West Texas based on a lease that RingCentral signed after the date of the original complaint. RingCentral refiled its motion to dismiss, which Judge Albright denied, ruling that facts alleged in an amended complaint—even facts that did not exist at the time of the original complaint—“should apply to determine whether venue is proper” in a particular district.

Marble VOIP Partners LLC has filed a third complaint in the campaign that it initiated in January of this year, this one in the District of Kansas rather than in the Western District of Texas. Zoom Video Communications (2:22-cv-02247) is the defendant. The sole patent-in-campaign generally relates to using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to enable VoIP in applications, with infringement allegations in the new complaint targeting both Zoom Phone and Zoom Meetings.

After suing Microsoft this past January, Marble VOIP Partners LLC has filed a second Western District of Texas complaint, this one accusing Mitel Networks and RingCentral (6:22-cv-00259) of infringing the same patent, which is generally related to using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to enable VoIP in applications. Infringement allegations target the parties’ MVP Platform, RingCentral’s video platform, and Mitel’s SIP-DECT system. Connected to a seemingly “David versus Goliath” themed set of plaintiffs, the plaintiff pleads that joinder of these defendants in a single case is proper “because Mitel and RingCentral agreed to integrate RingCentral’s MVP Platform with Mitel’s CloudLink Technology platform in order to transition users from on-premises PBX systems to RingCentral’s MVP platform”.

Marble VOIP Partners LLC has filed its first litigation, suing Microsoft (6:22-cv-00076) in a new Western District of Texas complaint over a single patent generally related to using the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to enable VoIP in applications. Targeting the provision of its communication platforms, including Microsoft Teams and Skype for Business, the Texas NPE is associated with a set of figures familiar to patent monetization.