A hearing on two Alice-based motions to dismiss is set for December 1, 2015 in the longest-running case in the encryption campaign initiated by MAZ Encryption Technologies LLC in February 2013. BlackBerry filed the first motion in April 2015 attacking the only one (6,185,681) of four related patents-in-campaign asserted against it, arguing that its claims are directed to the abstract idea of “storing and accessing keys used to encrypt and decrypt data”. Toshiba and Lenovo jointly filed the second motion to dismiss one week later, also in April, arguing that the claims of the patent asserted against it (8,359,476) are directed to the abstract idea of “verifying a person’s identity using biometric information (e.g. fingerprints, facial features, or handwriting) in order to give her access to secret information”.  The pending motions have not deterred MAZ Encryption, however, as the NPE this week filed four new cases, one each against Seagate and La Cie (6:15-cv-00982), Apricorn (6:15-cv-00979), Nxt-Id (6:15-cv-00981), and CDW (6:15-cv-00980). The new complaints assert two patents (the ‘476 patent and 8,762,713) against the defendants’ methods of encryption, including biometric authentication.

MAZ Encryption Technologies LLC’s ongoing campaign recently added two new defendants, HTC (1:14-cv-00755) and Imation (1:14-cv-00756), to the list of targeted companies. MAZ is a subsidiary of Empire IP LLC, and its suits assert a single patent related to biometric authentication for encryption and decryption (8,359,476). Defendants’ devices and security systems that use fingerprint software and sensors are accused of infringing the asserted patent.

Four new suits were filed by MAZ Encryption Technologies LLC against Acer, Olympus, Samsung, and Sony that include a previously asserted patent relating to biometric authentication for encryption and decryption(8,359,476). Mobile devices and computers that use fingerprint security are the products accused of infringing the patent-in-suit. The ‘476 patent was developed by MAZ Technologies, an operating company that assigned its patents to Empire IP in October 2012. Empire subsidiary MAZ Encryption was created shortly after and received the patents in February 2013. It has been asserting them in litigation since that time. 5/16, District of Delaware, 1:14-cv-00622, 1:14-cv-00623, 1:14-cv-00624, 1:14-cv-00625.

MAZ Encryption Technologies LLC’s first litigation against Apple is in the process of being scheduled, and meanwhile the entity has filed a second case (1:14-cv-00228) against the company asserting a different patent. Both cases assert a single patent related to online security, but the patent asserted in the more recent case relates specifically to a biometric system for user identification (8,359,476). Apple’s iPhone5s and other products that have fingerprint sensors are accused of infringing the patent-in-suit.