This week in patent filings, Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) filings are back up, with four post grant reviews (PGRs) and 37 inter partes reviews (IPRs), while there were 83 district court complaints; the district court numbers skew high because of the WSOU entities’ proclivity for filing dozens of independent complaints per defendant, as discussed below. This week saw a major suit from PayPal against an online coupon competitor, allegations of abusive demand letter practices by BlackBerry, and even what appears to be a Matrix-themed gag filing in Delaware. Lockdown doesn’t seem to have slowed down suits in the slightest, despite what has been happening in other industries; only time will tell how earnings reports and market dips affect the patent marketplace longterm, though if history is any guide, litigation and patent assertion will likely rise in a recession economy.
The Blacker the Berry: Former phone maker Blackberry, Ltd. has been accused by cloud and endpoint security platform Mobile Iron of abusive demand letter practices, filing a suit of their own for infringement of at least nine patents, and adding claims of noninfringement, surrender, and patent misuse of other threatened BlackBerry patents. It also adds a claim of attempted civil extortion and one for unclean hands for good measure, as well as a violation of California’s unfair competition law. The suit doesn’t mince words: “The Blackberry Defendants built a technology made obsolete. Due to Blackberry’s shrinking presence in the marketplace, it decided to shake companies down by making countless meritless patent assertions to generate licensing revenue instead of competing in the marketplace. The Blackberry Defendants have largely become dependent on licensing revenue by seeking portfolio licenses that include patents they know are statutorily surrendered and by asserting infringement theories through unlawful notice letters that would not pass muster in any court of law and extracting extortionate license fees as it tries to rebuild its company on the backs of other companies’ technologies.”
Retails me, RetailMeNot: E-commerce giant PayPal, Inc. has sued (relative) upstart RetailMeNot, Inc. over their service of aggregating online coupon codes (among other things). PayPal, Inc. recently bought Honey Science Corp., which runs the competitor coupon code application Honey. The complaint alleges patent infringement of seven of PayPal’s patents on location-based couponing, web site design, and other various features related to the business of both Honey and RetailMeNot. RetailMeNot is now based in Austin (and once, Australia), making the Western District of Texas the home venue under TC Heartland.
Red Pill v. Blue Pill: Blue Drug Pharmaceuticals v. Red Drug Pharmaceuticals—I don’t know what’s behind this, but Kafka could’ve written the caption. The complaint appears to be some kind of joke filing: Larry Litigant has an email address: Litigant@Emailme.com, and works at ABC law firm. Someone is having some Matrix-themed fun with the Delaware Court filing system.
Semiconductor kinda life: Radent Licensing, LLC and Fury Technologies, LLC are the latest IP Edge subsidiaries to target semiconductor patents, in what appears to be the new normal for the entity, with subsidiaries such as Dynavair, Altair Logix, Pantarus, Venadium, and NovelPoint Security, among others. Such suits will only grow in importance as the chipset market continues to flourish, even in these difficult times.
Wassamatta U?: No, it’s not a hailstorm of litigation by Seton Hall’s pirated college rock radio station. It seems increasingly clear that financed litigation vehicle WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] does not intend to stop their rain of complaints with ZTE and Huawei, and has moved on to Microsoft. If the pattern of litigation continues, we can expect to see dozens new suits against other major players in the device space by year’s end—and their habit of filing dozens of independent suits against each defendant means that, by the end of the year, district court statistics will be skewed up by their excessive filing model. This week alone, they filed a dozen new suits against Microsoft, adding to the dozens against ZTE and Huawei they have already filed in 2020.
PTAB (4 PGRs, 37 IPRs) |
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District Court (83) |
Case Number | Action | Plaintiff | Defendant | Patent |
2:20-cv-03827 | Filed | Fury Technologies, LLC [IP Edge] | DJI | 8965598 9352833 |
2:20-cv-00127 | Filed | Estech Systems, Inc. | BBVA USA Bancshares, Inc. | 8391298 7068684 7123699 |
1:20-cv-00569 | Filed | Engle Grange, LLC | Ford Global Technologies, LLC Ford Motor |
10442397 8548645 10077021 |
6:20-cv-00331 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 7366160 |
6:20-cv-00332 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 9814988 |
2:20-cv-03886 | Filed | Altair Instruments, Inc. | Does Telebrands Corp. |
6241739 |
8:20-cv-00822 | Filed | Amazon.com, Inc. Amazoncom Services, LLC |
2BCOM, LLC | 6928166 7127210 6885643 7039445 |
1:20-cv-00573 | Filed | Fury Technologies, LLC [IP Edge] | 3D Robotics, Inc. | 8965598 9352833 |
1:20-cv-00580 | Filed | Novo Nordisk Healthcare AG Novo Nordisk |
LABORATOIRE FRANCAIS DU FRACTIONNEMENT ET DES BIOTECHNOLOGIES SA Hema Biologics, LLC |
9102762 |
1:20-cv-03329 | Filed | Fury Technologies, LLC [IP Edge] | Parrot Inc. | 8965598 9352833 |
6:20-cv-00339 | Filed | Paypal, Inc. | RetailMeNot, Inc. | 9654923 8909248 7659905 6917961 7693937 9053514 9082153 |
2:20-cv-00134 | Filed | Karya Property Management, LLC | ResMan, LLC | 7636687 |
1:20-cv-00588 | Filed | rondevoo technologies, llc [2S Ventures, LLC] | Behold.AI Technologies, Inc. | 7088854 7254266 8687879 |
1:20-cv-00589 | Filed | rondevoo technologies, llc [2S Ventures, LLC] | Enlitic, Inc. | 7088854 7254266 8687879 |
1:20-cv-00367 | Filed | GCI OUTDOOR | Wholesale Merchandisers, LLC | 9060611 |
6:20-cv-00344 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 8226241 |
5:20-cv-02995 | Filed | AT&T, Inc. | Voip-Pal.com, Inc. | 10218606 |
3:20-cv-01089 | Filed | Martin Kuster | Western Digital Corp | 8705243 8693206 |
1:20-cv-00465 | Filed | Karetek Holdings, LLC [IP Edge LLC] | Golds Gym, Inc. | 7373515 |
1:20-cv-00467 | Filed | Karetek Holdings, LLC [IP Edge LLC] | RetailMeNot, Inc. | 7373515 |
6:20-cv-00348 | Filed | Pearl IP Licensing, LLC [IP Edge LLC] | Cellco Partnership dba Verizon Wireless | 6819539 |
2:20-cv-00136 | Filed | Lupercal LLC [IPValuation Partners, LLC] | The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. | 9386094 |
1:20-cv-03399 | Filed | Hong Kong uCloudlink Network Technology, Ltd. uCloudlink (America), Ltd. |
SIMO Holdings, Inc. | 9736689 |
2:20-cv-00065 | Filed | Stormborn Technologies LLC [IP Edge LLC] | Carlson Software, Inc. | RE44199 |
2:20-cv-00126 | Filed | Estech Systems, Inc. | BOKF, National Association | 8391298 7068684 7123699 |
1:20-cv-00568 | Filed | Centre One | WideOpenWest, Inc. [WideOpenWest Holdings, LLC] | 7068668 8724643 8125982 7486667 10063710 |
1:20-cv-00570 | Filed | Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. | Castle Global, Inc. | 6904168 |
1:20-cv-00578 | Filed | Radent Licensing, LLC [IP Edge] | Infineon Technologies Americas, Corp. | 8018184 8310184 8541966 |
1:20-cv-00579 | Filed | Radent Licensing, LLC [IP Edge] | ROHM Semiconductor, U.S.A., LLC | 8018184 8310184 8541966 |
8:20-cv-00828 | Filed | Anthony Longo | ||
1:20-cv-02587 | Filed | TOY HELICOPTER SOLUTIONS, LLC | Rural King Administration, Inc. RK Holdings, LLP Rural King Holding Co. |
RE47176 |
3:20-cv-05256 | Filed | THERAPEUTICSMD, INC. | Amneal Pharmaceuticals, LLC. Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
8633178 8846648 8846649 8987237 8993548 8993549 9006222 9114145 9114146 9301920 10052386 10206932 |
6:20-cv-00341 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 7106702 |
6:20-cv-00342 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 7106727 |
6:20-cv-00345 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 7706519 |
1:20-cv-02640 | Filed | ABC | The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule “A” | |
6:20-cv-00349 | Filed | S3G Technology | Keller Williams Realty, Inc. | 8572571 9304758 |
6:20-cv-00351 | Filed | Big Will Enterprises Inc. | Unaliwear, Inc. | 9049558 8737951 8559914 8452273 |
3:20-cv-01103 | Filed | Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. | Sirius XM Radio | 6502194 6526411 7173177 6721489 6452609 7610394 7642443 8165867 |
1:20-cv-02556 | Filed | ABC | The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule “A” | |
0:20-cv-01030 | Filed | PIETRO PASQUALE ANTONIO SGROMO aka Peter Anthony Sgromo | Target Brands, Incorporated | 7046440 9511298 8654422 |
1:20-cv-00572 | Filed | Fury Technologies, LLC [IP Edge] | DroneDeploy, Inc. | 8965598 9352833 |
1:20-cv-00575 | Filed | Stephen Eisenmann | Illinois Tool Works Inc. Ford Motor |
6302169 |
6:20-cv-00335 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 7388868 |
1:20-cv-00585 | Filed | Sunset Licensing, LLC [IP Edge] | GeoTab, Inc. | 8483941 |
5:20-cv-03003 | Filed | rondevoo technologies, llc [2S Ventures, LLC] | RSIP Vision, Inc. | 7088854 7254266 8687879 |
1:20-cv-00593 | Filed | rondevoo technologies, llc [2S Ventures, LLC] | Mindshare Medical, Inc. | 7088854 7254266 8687879 |
1:20-cv-00601 | Filed | FG SRC, LLC [Freeman Capital Partners, LLC] | Xilinx | 7149867 9153311 |
6:20-cv-00353 | Filed | Q2 Software, Inc. | Lighthouse Consulting Group, LLC | 8590940 7950698 RE44274 |
6:20-cv-00354 | Filed | Big Will Enterprises Inc. | Montblanc Co. | 9049558 8737951 8559914 8452273 |
3:20-cv-05426 | Filed | BAUSCH HEALTH IRELAND, LTD. BAUSCH HEALTH AMERICAS, INC. |
PERRIGO COMPANY, PLC Perrigo |
8809307 10478502 |
3:20-cv-00820 | Filed | rondevoo technologies, llc [2S Ventures, LLC] | 12 Sigma Technologies | 7088854 7254266 8687879 |
4:20-cv-01539 | Filed | Nexus Perforating, LLC | C&J Energy Services, Ltd. Steve Delozier NexTier Oilfield Solutions, Inc. |
10352136 |
4:20-cv-01558 | Filed | Varel International Industries, LLC | Taurex Drill Bits, LLC | 10538970 |
2:20-cv-00128 | Filed | Estech Systems, Inc. | Wells Fargo Bank, NA Wells Fargo |
8391298 7068684 7123699 6067349 |
2:20-cv-05212 | Filed | Tris Pharma | Teva Pharmaceutical | 9545399 9844544 9844545 |
6:20-cv-00334 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 8965978 |
6:20-cv-00337 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 7750286 |
7:20-cv-03347 | Filed | rondevoo technologies, llc [2S Ventures, LLC] | Carl Zeiss Microscopy, LLC | 7088854 7254266 8687879 |
6:20-cv-00346 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 8274902 |
1:20-cv-00591 | Filed | rondevoo technologies, llc [2S Ventures, LLC] | Paige.AI. Inc. | 7088854 7254266 8687879 |
1:20-cv-00592 | Filed | rondevoo technologies, llc [2S Ventures, LLC] | DeepRadiology Corp. | 7088854 7254266 8687879 |
1:20-cv-00455 | Filed | Authenex, Inc. | Gemalto [Thales SA] | 7519989 |
1:20-cv-00463 | Filed | Karetek Holdings, LLC [IP Edge] | 360Training.com, Inc. | 7373515 |
6:20-cv-00350 | Filed | Pearl IP Licensing, LLC [IP Edge] | AT&T Communications, LLC AT&T, Inc. |
6819539 |
2:20-cv-05439 | Filed | Bayer BAYER AG Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. |
UNICHEM, INC. (AKA UNICHEM LABORATORIES, LTD.) UNICHEM PHARMACEUTICALS (USA), INC. |
7157456 9539218 |
3:20-cv-02877 | Filed | Mobile Iron Co. | Blackberry, Ltd. | 8869307 8359016 7372961 9426120 10038598 8442489 9270682 9282099 8005469 |
1:20-cv-00574 | Filed | Fury Technologies, LLC [IP Edge] | Yuneec USA, Inc. | 8965598 9352833 |
6:20-cv-00333 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 7676550 |
6:20-cv-00338 | Filed | PROVEN NETWORKS, LLC | SOLARWINDS CORP. | 8165024 |
1:20-cv-00583 | Filed | SmileDirectClub, LLC | Candid Care Co. | 10636522 |
1:20-cv-00584 | Filed | Sunset Licensing, LLC [IP Edge] | Nextraq, LLC | 8483941 |
6:20-cv-00340 | Filed | WSOU Investments, LLC dba Brazos Licensing and Development [WSOU Holdings, LLC] | Microsoft | 8625758 |
5:20-cv-02964 | Filed | Aperture Net LLC [IP Edge] | Advantech Corp. | 6711204 |
5:20-cv-02968 | Filed | Sunset Licensing, LLC [IP Edge] | Lilee Technology, Inc. | 8483941 |
1:20-cv-00594 | Filed | RRT Holdings, LLC | nuOnosys, Inc. | 9805351 |
1:20-cv-00464 | Filed | Karetek Holdings, LLC [IP Edge] | EyeBuyDirect, Inc. | 7373515 |
1:20-cv-00466 | Filed | Karetek Holdings, LLC [IP Edge] | New Balance Athletics | 7373515 |
2:20-cv-04059 | Filed | Platinum Tools, LLC | Structured Cable Products, Inc. Simply45, LLC DAVID L SPILLER TODD E COTA BLAKE K TALLY et al. |
9543729 10116082 10573990 |
1:20-cv-05004 | Filed | Jensen Battery & Tire Co. | Jackson Infringing Batteries | |
1:20-cv-05005 | Filed | Blue Drug Pharmaceuticals | Red Drug Pharmaceuticals | |
1:20-cv-00472 | Filed | Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. | Iheartmedia, Inc. | 6502194 6526411 6721489 6452609 8805830 8165867 |
6:20-cv-00358 | Filed | Lupercal LLC [IPValuation Partners, LLC] | Frost Bank Frost Bankers, Inc. |
9386094 |
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