Patent Filings Roundup: Existing NPE Campaigns Dominate an Average Week; IP Edge Back from the Brink; GLS Capital Subsidiary Expands Campaign

It was a slow week at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) with just 18 new petitions—all inter partes reviews (IPRs); in district court, a slightly below average 54 new patent filings and 48 terminations rounded out the count.

District courts saw continued filings in several large campaigns. Unwired Global Systems LLC (associated with high volume plaintiff, Jeffrey Gross) adds another seven defendants to its campaign, asserting a single patent related to home area network middleware interfaces and inventor-controlled Optimum Imaging Technologies LLC filed suit against six defendants asserting patents related to, not surprisingly, digital imaging, bringing the total number of defendants to seven. Equitable IP-backed entity, Push Data LLC, filed six new lawsuits against retailers. And as discussed further below, GLS capital-backed Celerity IP LLC launched additional suits asserting former ASUSTeK and Innovation Sonic patents against wireless carriers.

On the Board front, a number of long-running campaigns saw patents challenged, including an IPR filed by Vizio challenging one of Polaris Powerled Technologies LLC’s [of Michrochip Technology Incorporated] patents, four IPRs challenging Taasera Licensing LLC’s [of Quest Patent Research Corporation] patents filed by Crowdstrike Inc., and, in the latest in the Apple-Masimo spat, Masimo has challenged one of Apple’s patents in an IPR.

Defendants saw success in IPR institutions and final written decisions in a number of long-running campaigns. Samsung and Nintendo received favorable institution decisions in IPRs challenging Polaris Powerled Technologies’s patents, as well institutions in Cisco’s IPRs challenging Lionra Technologies Ltd.’s [associated with Magnetar Capital] wireless networking patents Samsung also continued to see success in challenging Apex Beams’s wireless communications patents with two more institutions. Meanwhile, final written decisions invalidating two of Cloudofchange’s patents and two of Fortress-backed Netlist’s patents were issued.

IP Edge Back from the Brink

Last month, after a months-long filing hiatus, IP Edge entity Communication Advances LLC filed suit against Roku in the Western District of Texas, asserting five former MediaTek patents. Communication Advances targets Roku products, which utilize H.265 video compression, HDR10+ technology, and HEVC. This week, Communication Advances continued its assertion of former MediaTek patents in a new campaign against General Motors. Communication Advances has broadened its campaign to the Eastern District of Texas, where General Motors is accused of infringing two former MediaTek patents (unrelated to the patents asserted against Roku) through products using GM’s Super Cruise technology that provide eye-gaze detection technology.

Celerity IP Campaign Speeds Up

Celerity IP LLC, a subsidiary of third-party litigation funder GLS Capital, has now expanded its campaign to wireless carriers AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon. GLS Capital characterizes Celerity IP as an “intellectual property management company” that “special[izes] in the development licensing and monetization of patent portfolios with market significance.” GLS Capital announced Celerity IP as the “exclusive agent for the licensing and enforcement of two separate portfolios of standard essential patents (‘SEPs’).” The portfolios were originally developed by consumer electronics giant ASUSTek, Inc. and Innovative Sonic, Ltd.

In its recent filings, Celerity IP has filed  two suits against each of the wireless carriers (all in the Eastern District of Texas): one asserting a single patent in the ASUS portfolio and the other asserting a single patent in the Innovative Sonic portfolio against each of the wireless carriers. The patents allegedly cover essential functions in 4G and 5G wireless services with the provision of 4G and 5G wireless services.

Celerity IP currently has two ongoing lawsuits involving patents from these same portfolios. Celerity began its campaign this past June in the Eastern District of Texas, asserting five Innovative Sonic wireless communications patents that are related to “various functional operations of 4G-compliant devices” against LG Electronics and targeting LG devices compliant with the 4G/LTE standard. Last month, Celerity accused Samsung (also in the Eastern District of Texas) of infringing a single ASUSTeK wireless communications patent against Samsung (also in the Eastern District of Texas) through the provision of 4G- and 5G-compliant Galaxy products, including smartphones, tablets, and smart watches.

IPR Filed in Electronic Trash Can Dispute

Volume Distributors Inc. filed an IPR challenging Simplehuman LLC’s “trash can assembly” patent that includes “a power transmission device configured to drive the lid between the lower position and the upper position; and a retaining mechanism configured to maintain the trim member in the open position against the force of gravity” in an IPR this week. The IPR follows a long-running campaign by Simplehuman accusing numerous retailers of patent, trademark, and copyright infringement.

Links to the cases discussed above and more are available in the Weekly UP, which can be found here.

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Author:gustavofrazao
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