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VDPP Keeps Filing (and Refiling)
New Patent Litigation
VDPP LLC added separate late March cases against Delta Electronics (Vivitek) (3:24-cv-01781), FinSim (SIM2 USA) (0:24-cv-60463), Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (3:24-cv-01672), Mazda (8:24-cv-00571), Mercedes Benz (3:24-cv-00664), ViewSonic (8:24-cv-00616), and Xiaomi (5:24-cv-01783) to the suits that the plaintiff filed earlier in the month against Best Buy, Boxlight, Canon, Honeywell, HP, JVCKenwood, NEC, Qisda (BenQ), Razer, and Ushio (Christie Digital Systems USA). The inventor-controlled plaintiff targets the provision of image processing features in a wide array of devices, ranging from projectors to smartphones, baby monitors to in-vehicle surround view camera systems.
March 29, 2024
30 Becomes 40 in Roughly a Week
New Patent Litigation
Last month, the number of defendants in inventor-controlled plaintiff VDPP LLC’s sole litigation campaign ticked past 30, but since—with new suits against Best Buy (2:24-cv-00164), Boxlight (7:24-cv-00069), Canon (3:24-cv-00570), Honeywell (4:24-cv-00798), HP (7:24-cv-00068), JVCKenwood (2:24-cv-01881), NEC (3:24-cv-00566), Qisda (BenQ) (2:24-cv-00171), Razer (7:24-cv-00070), and Ushio (Christie Digital Systems USA) (2:24-cv-00156)—that number has pushed above 40. This growing campaign targets the support for image processing features across a wide array of products.
March 15, 2024
More Than 30 Defendants Sued in VDPP’s Image Processing Campaign
New Patent Litigation
Last month, inventor-controlled plaintiff VDPP LLC added suits against Funai Electric (Funai) (5:24-cv-00435) and Honda (in a third complaint) (2:24-cv-01501) in the Central District of California and Optoma Technology (5:24-cv-01118) in the Northern District of California. The five patents-in-suit, asserted in overlapping sets, are described by the plaintiff in its complaints as “relate[d] to an electronically controlled spectacle frame and optoelectronmic [sic] lenses housed in the frame”. The defendants are accused of infringement over the support of image processing features in a wide array of products: Funai, over the provision of certain TVs; Honda, over automobiles that incorporate surround view camera systems; and Optoma, over certain projectors.
March 1, 2024
VDPP Keeps Refiling
New Patent Litigation, TPLF
The pattern of refiling established earlier this year by VDPP LLC has continued, with the plaintiff hitting Hon Hai (Sharp Electronics) (7:23-cv-00191) and Philips (Philips North America) (7:23-cv-00177) again, this time in the Midland/Odessa Division of the Western District of Texas, rather than in the Waco Division. Reasserted are up to two video modification patents, Sharp accused over the provision of certain displays, laptops, and projectors; Philips, of the IntelliVue Patient Monitor. In the oldest active case in this campaign, filed against Ford in June 2023 over three different patents from the same family, Ford has moved to dismiss the amended complaint for, among other things, failing to plausibly allege that “an in-vehicle display that provides a real-time, two-dimensional view around a vehicle, allowing for blind-spot mitigation as the driver reverses” could infringe “VDPP’s 3D-movie eyeglasses patents”.
December 5, 2023
VDPP Establishes a Pattern of Refiling
New Patent Litigation, TPLF
VDPP LLC has refiled cases against prior defendants Panasonic (1:23-cv-02750) and Seiko (Epson) (8:23-cv-01968). The plaintiff again asserts up to two patents described as generally “relate[d] to a system called 3Deeps that will allow almost any motion picture filmed in 2D (single image) to be viewed with the visual effect of 3-dimensions”, targeting the provision of features related to image frame modification and combination within certain projectors. VDPP moved its litigation against Panasonic from the Northern District of Texas to the District of Colorado; against Seiko, from the Eastern District of Texas to the Central District of California.
October 27, 2023
VDPP Targets Automobile Surround View Systems and Smartphone Digital Zoom Features in New Complaints
New Patent Litigation
So far in August, VDPP LLC has sued BMW (2:23-cv-00365), KIA (2:23-cv-00367), and ZTE (2:23-cv-00373) in the Eastern District of Texas; Bullitt Mobile (1:23-cv-00971), General Motors (1:23-cv-00956), Nissan (1:23-cv-00957), and Toyota (1:23-cv-00958) in the Western District of Texas; Honda (4:23-cv-00843), and OnePlus (3:23-cv-01864) in the Northern District of Texas; HMD (1:23-cv-23159) in the Southern District of Florida; Vivo (4:23-cv-04241) in the Northern District of California; and Volkswagen (4:23-cv-02961) in the Southern District of Texas. The automaker defendants are each accused of infringing a single patent, described in the complaint as “relate[d] to an electronically controlled spectacle frame and optoelectronmic [sic] lenses housed in the frame”, through the provision of automobiles having surround view camera systems. Against the remaining defendants, the plaintiff asserts two patents described as “related to modifying an image”, with infringement allegations trained on the provision of smartphones that support digital zoom.
August 20, 2023
VDPP Files Fresh Round of Complaints, Targeting Image Frame Modification Tools
New Patent Litigation
Ford (2:23-cv-11462) and Seiko (Epson America) (2:23-cv-00307) are the latest defendants to be added to the sole litigation campaign of VDPP LLC, launched in August 2019 with suits against Acer and Meta Platforms (f/k/a Facebook) and expanding to hit over a dozen defendants since. The four patents-in-suit, asserted in overlapping sets, are broadly directed to modifying video content using the Pulfrich effect. Ford is accused of infringement through the provision of automobiles incorporating the Ford Surround View tool, while Epson is targeted over projectors that incorporate the Epson 3-chip 3LCD technology. At issue is Epson’s resolution scaling system and Ford’s “parking guidelines” tool.
June 30, 2023
VDPP Files New Round of Suits in Image Processing Campaign, No Longer Identifies DynaIP as an Interested Nonparty
New Patent Litigation, TPLF
VDPP LLC has filed another round of complaints in its sole litigation campaign—launched in August 2019 with suits against Acer and Meta Platforms (f/k/a Facebook)—suing Panasonic (3:22-cv-02831) in the Northern District of Texas and Philips (Philips North America) (6:22-cv-01284) and Roku (6:22-cv-01285) in the Western District of Texas. The sole asserted patent generally relates to taking two chronologically distinct frames from a video; “expanding”, “reshap[ing]”, or “blend[ing]” those frames; combining the two modified images into a single frame; combining that modified frame with a solid-color bridge frame; and then displaying them. The defendants are accused of infringement through the provision of certain TVs (Panasonic and Philips) and software (Roku) that support a variety of picture modification tools, such as frame rate conversion, local dimming, and black frame insertion.
December 28, 2022
After Federal Circuit Remand, Image Processing Campaign Fires Back Up
New Patent Litigation, TPLF
VDPP LLC last sued Microsoft and Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) in December 2020, both cases filed in the Northern District of Illinois and both dismissed without prejudice in March 2021 after Central District of California Judge James V. Selna invalidated claims from three patents asserted against VIZIO for indefiniteness. However, in March 2022, the Federal Circuit reversed that ruling, remanding for further proceedings, in response to which VDPP sued Microsoft, in April 2022 in the Western District of Texas, and now Motorola Mobility (1:22-cv-03280), again in the Northern District of Illinois. The Microsoft case was dismissed earlier this month, while the new Motorola Mobility suit has been assigned to District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow.
June 23, 2022
Two Defendants Added to Image Processing Campaign, This Time in Illinois
New Patent Litigation, TPLF
For the latest suits in its video image processing campaign, filed against Lenovo (1:20-cv-07694) and Microsoft (1:20-cv-07694), VDPP LLC has turned to a new venue: the Northern District of Illinois. Its prior cases—closed matters against Acer, Facebook, Hisense, and TCL (TTE Technology) and separate ongoing suits against ASUSTek and VIZIO—were all filed in either the Northern or Central District of California. The accused products throughout the campaign have included smartphones, tablets, televisions, and virtual reality headsets, with its newest cases targeting laptops (i.e., Lenovo’s ThinkPad A275 and Microsoft’s Surface).
December 28, 2020