Northern District of Texas Chief Judge David C. Godbey has denied a motion for a preliminary injunction filed against X (f/k/a Twitter), ruling that VidStream LLC, as an NPE, failed to prove that any injury that it has sustained through the infringement that it alleges cannot be redressed by money damages. The court revived this case back in April 2019 when the plaintiff was Youtoo Technologies, LLC, the defendant was Twitter, all three asserted patents were under inter partes review (IPR) by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), and the two surviving asserted patents were held invalid under Alice in a district court decision that the Federal Circuit refused to review via interlocutory appeal. Given, in part, the “sea change” in patent eligibility law over the years, Judge Godbey rebooted the suit, with new counsel, a new plaintiff, and a new complaint—as well as eventually a new defendant and a new Alice ruling.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) continued to see the filing of petitions for inter partes review (IPR) against publicly traded NPEs in March 2017, including Acacia Research Corporation; Finjan Holdings, Inc.; Pendrell Corporation; TiVo Corporation (formerly known as Rovi Corporation); and Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN). A variety of prolific, privately held NPEs were also targeted for IPR throughout March, including Blackbird Tech LLC, General Patent Corporation, IP Edge LLC, Realtime Data LLC, and Papst Licensing GmbH & Company Kg, along with several inventors and inventor-controlled NPEs and an assortment of other plaintiffs.