Patent Filings Roundup: Canon(ball) Runs to the ITC; District Court Filings Spike

Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) filings held at 25 this week, with one post grant review (PGR) and 24 inter partes reviews (IPRs); district court patent filings jumped significantly, however, to 95, with Cannon’s lengthy scorched-earth filings against dozens of competitors making up the bulk of that jump. The IPRs were propped up by a handful of Samsung-filed petitions against Aquis; Samsung also continued to trickle out petitions against Ericsson related to the now-infamous FRAND 5G rate case ping-ponging between China and the Eastern District of Texas. Hisense and LG filed a number of IPRs related to a semiconductor dispute with Polaris, and Qualcomm continued to battle Vector Capital-backed Monterey Research at the Board over non-practicing entity (NPE) semiconductor assertions, earning institution on at least three of the IPRs they’ve filed to date. And Amazon is having mixed luck with IPRs against a failed voice technology company they have a long history with.

‘Canon to the Right of Them’: Canon has launched a massive anticounterfeiting International Trade Commission (ITC) action with 21 huge companion district court complaints against importers of toner supply cartridges. Those cases are stayed as simultaneously filed with an ITC action against those same importers, all effectively Chinese (and their U.S. importers and retailers). Some of them are blatant counterfeiters, one going so far as to name their business “TonerPirate.com.” It names, among others, Chinese companies Ninestar Corporation, Sichuan XingDian Technology Co., Ltd., Anhuiyatengshangmaoyouxiangongsi, ChengDuXiangChangNanShiYouSheBeiYouXianGongSi of China, Hefeierlandianzishangwuyouxiangongsi, Shenzhenshi Keluodeng Kejiyouxiangognsi, Xianshi yanliangqu canqiubaihuodianshanghang, Zhuhai Henyun Image Co., Ltd.; and Zinyaw LLC d/b/a TonerPirate.com. It’s the not-so-rare case of a major foreign U.S. importer and retailer (Canon) using U.S. patents and the U.S. ITC against other foreign importers. The patents they have raised include at least U.S. 10496033, 9753402, 10520881, 10496032, 10289061, 10488814, 10520882, 9354551, 10514654, 8565649, 10295957, 10289060, and 10209667. The complaint is In re Certain Toner Supply Containers and Components Thereof, 337-TA-3536, filed March 8, and is in the public comment period before the ITC.

IV Drip: Intellectual Ventures—in full fire sale mode for the past few years after breaking up Fund III and seeking to license as many assets out as possible in small chunks, spawning hundreds of new NPEs seeking to monetize recently-acquired IV patents—has apparently not given up entirely on its own assertions. Fresh off the heels of the deal with RPX for some portion of their Fund III portfolio, they’ve continued to assert in district court, despite their long and spotty record there, this time going again after Hewlett-Packard, Inc. This is not the first time licensing demands or potential suits directly from the mothership have been felt around the industry over the previous months.

Box Battle: Comcast stepped into the breach to defend The Great Courses, an online streaming platform offering streaming video of lectures and courses on important or otherwise interesting scholarly concerns. They’ve done so with a DJ action against Dish Network, accusing them of buying additional patents and asserting them against The Great Courses, a customer of Comcast’s. The complaint minces no words:

Dish and Sling have begun a litigation campaign asserting a portfolio of outdated patents that they themselves did not invent but have acquired. As part of that effort, Dish and Sling accused TTC’s The Great Courses streaming service of infringing four of their patents. After receiving Defendants’ threats, TTC explained to Defendants that it contracts with Comcast regarding its web services and that Defendants should speak to Comcast directly. TTC even provided the contact information of a Comcast in-house lawyer with whom Defendants could speak further about their contentions. However, Defendants continued to press their claims against TTC, a company a fraction of their size.

One thing is for certain—Comcast has developed a reputation for fierce litigation and defense when it feels threatened, something the sweeping portfolio of companies they own or provide services to must be happy about. The patents, for their part, are related to bistream video codec and are, at first blush, rather broad.

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