Patent Filings Roundup: Equitable IP Entity Revives Old Campaign; New IV Open Source Campaign Launched; FTC Holds True to Policy Statement

It was a typical week for patent filings at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) with 25 new Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) petitions—all inter partes reviews (IPRs). Meanwhile, the district courts had a somewhat above average week with 76 new complaints filed.

At the PTAB, Hyundai filed two new IPRs against Mel Navip LLC [associated with Ni, Wang & Massand, PLLC] patents; Fortinet Inc. filed two IPRs against one Lionra Technologies [associated with Magnetar Capital] patent; and Apple filed two IPRs against DoDots Licensing Solutions [Strategic Intellectual Solutions] patents.

The Board instituted five Lennox Industries IPRs challenging patents asserted by Rosen Technologies LLC. Samsung also continued its winning streak in Apex Beam, seeing another two IPR institutions. And Intel Corp similarly received favorable institution decisions in its IPRs challenging BitMicro LLC patents.

There was also another Fintiv discretionary denial this week in an IPR filed (collectively) by Motorola Mobility and Beijing Boe Display Technology against an Element Capital Commercial Company Pte Ltd patent. In its Decision, found that the Fintiv factors favored denial and also found that Petitioner’s grounds did not present a “compelling, meritorious challenge.”

The Board invalidated a number of patents asserted by litigation-funded entities in final written decisions this week. Google and Ecobee saw success in four IPRs (each challenging the same patent) challenging an Ecofactor [associated with Trane Technologies plc] patent relating to smart thermostats. Similarly, Vivint saw success in another IPR challenging SB IP Holdings [a subsidiary of Skybell Technologies, Inc.] while Samsung received a favorable final written decision in an IPR challenging a [third party funded] Staton Techiya Patent related to earphone technologies. However, the Board upheld the claims in two TQ Delta [Techquity Capital Management, LLC] Patents, although both these final written decisions were accompanied by dissents.

In district court, we largely saw continuations of old campaigns by NPEs. Digimedia Tech Co. [associated with Georgia monetization firm IP Investments Group LLC] continues its long-running campaign asserting former Intellectual Ventures patents against Best Buy. Similarly, Mesa Digital LLC [associated with Ortiz & Lopez] filed new lawsuits as did Datacloud Technologies [associated with IP Investments Group LLC], RecepTrexx LLC [associated with Jeffrey Gross], Gatekeeper Solutions, and Genghiscomm Holdings LLC.

Anadex Data Communications

Anadex Data Communications [associated with Equitable IP] revived an prior campaign this week, asserting one patent against three defendants (Samsung Electronics America, Inc., Amcrest Technologies LLC, and Altex Electronics, Ltd), targeting the security video camera DVR recording systems. The patent is related to a “receiver which could receive and convert an analogue video signal and control the display of the video frames.” The patent was previously asserted against five other defendants (including Home Depot and Lowes) with the most recent campaign ending over a year ago.

Intellectual Ventures Launches New Open Source Campagin 

Intellectual Ventures I and Intellectual Ventures II have launched a new campaign asserting a total of six patents against three defendants (JP Morgan Chase, Liberty Mutual, and Comerica Incorporated) in the Eastern District of Texas. Though the patents all relate to different technologies and originated from different sources, each is asserted against the use of various open-source technologies. Four patents were asserted against all three defendants and accuse the use of  Docker, Kafka, Apache Spark, and Kubernetes. Two patents were asserted only against JP Morgan Chase and target the use of Trino and/or Pesto and the Zelle payment feature.

The FTC Won’t Let [Drug Manufacturers] Be

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) made waves by challenging more than 100 patents held by manufacturers of brand-name drug products as improperly listed in the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Orange Book. This week, the FTC filed an Amicus Brief that outlines the anticompetitive harm resulting from improperly listed patents in the FDA Orange Book. Both these efforts come shortly after the FTC issued a policy statement this past September “put[ting] market participants on notice” that the agency “intends to scrutinize improper Orange Book listings to determine whether these constitute unfair methods of competition.”

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