New petitions stayed steady again this week at 29, while district court patent filings were one shy of 100, on the strength of at least 35 new complaints by various IP Edge subsidiaries. A number of known-financed entities launched suits or added defendants; Xerox launched a rather serious suit against three social media giants; and the Board denied some petitions based on trial dates and also on there being a significant relationship between suppliers and customers (in the Mitek cases).
The trial date that wasn’t: A number of Samsung/Google petitions filed within the one-year deadline against NPE AGIS Software Development, LLC were denied last week based on an April trial date before Judge Gilstrap in the Eastern District of Texas—just days before Judge Gilstrap suspended all jury trials through March 2021. Presumably, the jury trials scheduled for the next four months would be “ahead” of that aspirational trial date in April; and presumably all jury trials will be substantially delayed given the pause of all jury trials and the attendant delay. It’s worth noting that a substantial number of first-filed petitions have been denied this year based largely on Eastern District of Texas scheduled trial dates; and it’s worth further noting that those denials now appear to have had no basis, given those trial dates never materialized. Here, while the parties argued over the uncertainty surrounding COVID and that trial dates in general suggested a Fintiv denial would be inapposite, the Board discounted those concerns, focusing only on the trial date and the “good cause” standard for changing it. While it is still possible the parties request rehearing here, many of the earlier denials under Fintiv now appear to have been premised on trial dates that will never materialize.
As backstory here, AGIS previously (circa 2014) pursued and lost or settled claims against Life360 and then later after that suit failed, ZTE, as well as Apple, HTC, Huawei, and LG Electronics (LGE). Some of those claims were dismissed just after transfer of the claims out of the Eastern District; either way, the denials show the iffy nature of relying on projected scheduled trial dates in making policy-based denial decisions.
Palo Alto Research Center and Xerox Launch Suits: Xerox, in what appears to be the first time they’ve brought a patent suit in over a decade, has sued Snap, Facebook, and Twitter on eight overlapping patents related to social media platforms, combatting fraud, and policing comments, through subsidiary Palo Alto Research Center. Represented by McKool Smith, the complaint lays out PARC’s and Xerox’s substantial and long pedigree in the space, noting that PARC contributed to the first personal computer, artificial intelligence, and other foundational innovations.
They keep going and going: IP Edge rolls on. Just last week alone, they filed 35 known new complaints through known subsidiaries Fusion IP LLC, Coretek Licensing LLC, Kaleasy Tech LLC, Tunnel IP LLC, Nitetek Licensing LLC, Milestone IP, LLC, Sonohm Licensing LLC, Realm Licensing LLC, Altair Logix LLC, Swirlate LLC, Digi Portal LLC, Celebration IP LLC, and Harmony Licensing LLC. They sued a whole range of U.S. companies small and large, including, among others, Unify, Inc., Bumble Trading, Inc., Lifesize, Inc., Jefferson Bank, Fuze Inc., Monday.com Inc., Endress+Hauser, Inc., Eagle Eye Networks, Zions Bancorporation, Plantronics Co., TeamViewer US, Inc., The Conference Group, FreeConferenceCall.com, Party City, and Guaranty Bank & Trust, N.A. It’s worth noting that none of these cases has made it anywhere near trial; virtually all IP Edge cases settle well before any real motions practice. The rise in cases filed against banks post-CBM expiry alone is notable.
PTAB (29) |
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District Court (99) |
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