One-E-Way, Inc.’s 2020 case against Apple ended in August 2023 when the Federal Circuit affirmed a Central District of California summary judgment of noninfringement. That ruling was based on an agreed-upon construction of the claim term “unique user code”: “fixed code (bit sequence) specifically associated with one use of a device(s)”. Per the court, “unique user code” is therefore “associated with one user of a device, and not the device itself”. Now, One-E-Way has asserted the same two patents previously in suit against Apple, as well as a third, against Anker Innovations (1:24-cv-01559), Dell (1:24-cv-01558), and Samsung (1:24-cv-01561), in new Western District of Texas complaints. Targeted is the provision of wireless headphones and speakers that support “wireless transmission and/or reception of an audio signal in compliance with versions of the Bluetooth standard”, including Bluetooth 5.0.

Inventor-controlled One-E-Way, Inc. has sued Apple (2:20-cv-06339), asserting two patents generally related to digital audio devices in a Central District of California complaint, one of the patents familiar to the plaintiff’s nearly decade-long campaign and one new to litigation. One-E-Way targets Apple’s provision of wireless audio products that use Bluetooth 4.0, including certain AirPods, Beats, and Powerbeats series wireless earphones, as well as certain Beats and HomePod wireless speakers.