Recent setbacks before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) have not dissuaded ChriMar Systems, Inc. and ChriMar Holding Company, LLC (collectively, “ChriMar”) from continuing to file new lawsuits. Last week, the affiliated NPEs sued Polycom (6:19-cv-00015) in the Western District of Texas and USA Vision Systems (3:19-cv-00114) in the Northern District of Texas. Among the four patents asserted across these new complaints (all four against USA Vision; two, against Polycom) are three patents that were successfully challenged in inter partes reviews (IPRs), the invalidations arising from which have been appealed to the Federal Circuit. As it has throughout this campaign, ChriMar accuses the defendants of infringement through the provision of “Power over Ethernet powered devices and/or power sourcing equipment”, both complaints targeting “powered devices” (IP phones for Polycom and IP cameras for USA Vision Systems) but only the USA Vision Systems complaint targeting “power sourcing equipment” (“switches, midspans/injectors, and network video recorders”).

Early in June, affiliated NPEs ChriMar Systems, Inc. and ChriMar Holding Company, LLC (collectively, “ChriMar”) filed its second case of 2018, accusing Anixter (6:18-cv-00248) of infringement through the sale (and/or offer for sale) of products made by one of a long list of identified “unlicensed manufacturers”. ChriMar breaks the accused products into two categories: (1) those that receive power through an Ethernet port, providing as example categories “cameras, speakers, phones, access points, and keypads” and (2) those that provide power to another device through an Ethernet port, providing “PoE (Power over Ethernet) switches, midspans/injectors, and network video recorders” as example categories. The new complaint adheres to ChriMar’s pattern of asserting patents earlier in suit, together with the most recently issued member of the same family, which generally relates to communicating information about remote electronic equipment on a network.

ChriMar Systems, Inc. and ChriMar Holding Company, LLC (collectively, “ChriMar”) have filed two more Eastern District of Texas cases in their Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) campaign, one each against Johnson Controls (6:17-cv-00654) and Watchnet (6:17-cv-00657). The new complaints assert different subsets of ChriMar’s portfolio, targeting “PoE powered devices”, primarily networked cameras, that practice PoE standards. The newest patent to issue to ChriMar is asserted in both suits, and, as has become the practice each time ChriMar has asserted earlier, related patents throughout the campaign, HP and HP Enterprise (Aruba Networks) (2:17-cv-13784) and Cisco (2:17-cv-13770) have filed actions in the Eastern District of Michigan seeking declaratory judgments of noninfringement and unenforceability of the newly issued patent.

Affiliated NPEs ChriMar Systems, Inc. and ChriMar Holding Company, LLC (collectively, “ChriMar”) have filed cases since November 2008 asserting members of the same patent family, adding new suits as the USPTO has issued additional, related patents. The campaign has hit over 60 defendants over the years, and true to form, the latest complaint, filed against Panasonic (6:17-cv-00637) in the Eastern District of Texas, asserts not only patents already in suit in earlier cases but also the latest member of the family, which issued on November 7, 2017. The patents generally relate to communicating information about remote electronic equipment on a network. ChriMar has targeted devices (e.g., IP phones, network access points) that practice Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) standards. Two cases in this campaign have already been tried to juries, against defendants China Huaxin Post & Telecommunication Economy Development Center (Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise) and Aerohive Networks, with different results.

Affiliated NPEs ChriMar Systems, Inc. and ChriMar Holding Company, LLC (collectively, “ChriMar”) fired off well over 40 lawsuits in 2015, all in the Eastern District of Texas. Each complaint asserts three or four of the later-issued patents in a family of asserted ChriMar patents (7,457,250; 8,155,012; 8,902,760; 8,942,107; 9,019,838; 9,049,019) generally related to communicating information about remote electronic equipment on a network. ChriMar has targeted devices (e.g. IP phones or network access points) that practice Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) standards. Two of the Texas defendants—Juniper Networks and Ruckus Wireless—have won motions to transfer the cases against them to the Northern District of California, and similar motions filed by other Texas defendants (e.g. NETGEAR) are pending.