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Sharpe Innovations Sues Verizon over Cellular SIM Starter Kits
New Patent Litigation
Sharpe Innovations, Inc. has filed the first case of 2021 in its SIM card campaign, suing Verizon (6:21-cv-00049) in the Western District of Texas, roughly six months after it dismissed without prejudice an early 2020 case against Verizon subsidiary Visible Service. Only one of the two patents asserted in that earlier case is at issue in this new one, both of them generally related to a SIM card adapter that allows use of a smaller-format SIM card in a device that uses a larger-format SIM card (where the adapter body has a cut-out region “defined by walls” and that has a floor, with that region shaped to fit a micro SIM).
January 19, 2021
Sharpe Elbows Against Retailers in SIM Card Adapter Campaign
New Patent Litigation
Sharpe Innovations Inc. has filed suit against retailers Best Buy (1:20-cv-00178) and Target (1:20-cv-00110) in the Western District of Texas, as well as against Tucows (1:20-cv-00166) in the District of Delaware. The new cases join active 2020 defendant Verizon (Visible Service), which was sued in mid-January in the District of Colorado. Each complaint has seen two patents generally related to a SIM card adapter that allows use of a smaller-format SIM card in a device that uses a larger-format SIM card (where the adapter body has a cut-out region “defined by walls” and that has a floor, with that region shaped to fit a micro SIM). At issue in the campaign, which began in June 2017, has been the provision of certain cellular SIM cards—here, Best Buy over SIM cards from Consumer Cellular, Target over FreedomPop SIM card kits, and Tucows over its own starter kit.
February 20, 2020
SIM Card Adapter Campaign Pushes into 2020 with New Case Against Visible Service
New Patent Litigation
Sharpe Innovations Inc. has added a District of Colorado case against Verizon (Visible Service) (1:20-cv-00163) in the file-and-dismiss campaign that it began back in 2017. As in the plaintiff’s eight other complaints, Sharpe asserts two patents generally related to a SIM card adapter that allows use of a smaller-format SIM card in an device that uses a larger-format SIM card (where the adapter body has a cut-out region “defined by walls” and that has a floor, with that region shaped to fit a micro SIM). At issue is Visible Service’s provision of certain cellular SIM starter kits.
January 22, 2020
Sharpe Innovations Turns to Illinois to Sue Second-Wave Defendants, Each Neither Formed nor Based There
Sharpe Innovations Inc. has added multiple defendants in a second venue to the campaign that it began late last month in Virginia. The same two patents (8,337,239; 8,573,986), generally related to SIM (subscriber identity module) card adaptors, are asserted in separate complaints against Amazon, America Movil (TracFone Wireless), and CVS (1:17-cv-05462) and KDDI (KDDI America, Locus Telecommunications) (1:17-cv-05460). The complaints target Dual SIM cards offered by TracFone Wireless and Locus Telecommunications (d/b/a h20 Wireless) for direct sale through their websites, and for the former, through Amazon and CVS. Sharpe Innovations chose to file its new cases in the Northern District of Illinois even though none of the new defendants was formed in that state.
July 27, 2017
New Case Filed Against T-Mobile over SIM Card Adaptor Patents Is a Family Affair
Sharpe Innovations Inc. has filed suit against Deutsche Telekom North America (DTNA) and T-Mobile (2:17-cv-00351), both identified as subsidiaries of Deutsche Telekom, over two patents (8,337,239; 8,573,986) generally related to SIM (subscriber identity module) card adaptors. The complaint targets T-Mobile’s 3-in-1 SIM Starter Kits, which accommodate micro SIM cards, alleging direct and induced infringement by T-Mobile, seemingly without making infringement allegations against DTNA. Sharpe Innovations pleads that its SIM card adaptors are marketed through YouTube videos and remain available for purchase on its website, which has a page entitled “Our Friends” with a link to, among many other companies, T-Mobile.
July 1, 2017