Patent Filings Roundup: Spike in PTAB Filings and Decisions; Continued Filings in Previous NPE Campaigns; First NPE Lawsuits Filed in UPC

It was a busy week at the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) with 40 new filings—all inter partes review (IPR)—and an average week in the district courts with 51 new patent filings.

The bulk of new PTAB filings can be attributed to a few petitioners challenging multiple patents held by one patent owner (and all asserted in parallel district court litigations). For example, Apple continued its filings against Carbyne Biometrics LLC [associated with Bjorn Markus Jakobsson] patents, adding another five petitions against four patents to the two filed earlier this month (all patents asserted by Carbyne in the co-pending litigation have now been challenged). ASUSTeK, Dell, and HP teamed up (in various combinations) to file nine Petitions challenging five LiTL LLC [associated with TRI Ventures, Inc.] patents. Monolithic Power Systems Inc filed three Petitions against Greenthread LLC [funded by Patent Capital Funding and EC Holdings Series LLC] patents. And Aylo Freesites Ltd. filed eight Petitions against eight DISH Technologies LLC [DISH Network Corporation] patents.

In terms of PTAB decisions, there were no denials of institution this week. Crowdstrike and AO Kaspersky Labs received institution decisions in IPRs challenging one Webroot Inc [associated with Open Text Corporation] patent. Volkswagen and Porsche also received favorable institution decisions in their respective IPRs, each challenging the same Yechezkal Evan Spero patent.

There were 17 final written decisions this week. Samsung was successful in invalidating all challenged claims of two Kannuu Pty Ltd patents. Similarly, the Board found all challenged claims unpatentable in two petitions filed by FanDuel challenging two Winview Inc. [associated with GameSquare Holdings, Inc.] patents. Disney and Hulu (joined by Netflix for one petition) also saw final written decisions finding all challenged claims unpatentable in two petitions challenging two patents asserted by [the at least partially funded] Wag Acquisition LLC patents.

The district court continued to see continued filings from both old and new campaigns. Hyperice Inc. continued its campaign, adding another three defendants (for a total of 18); Receptrexx LLC [associated with Jeffrey M. Gross] filed four new lawsuits in one of its current campaigns relating to recorded message playback; Virtual Creative Artists also continues to assert two patents relating to an electronic multi-media exchange, filing two new suits; Wfr IP LLC [associated Dynamic IP Deals, LLC (d/b/a DynaIP)] filed four new cases asserting wireless ear piece technology (bringing the total number of cases up to 13); and S3G Technology LLC filed two new lawsuits.

This week also saw a flurry of activity in new campaigns. Secure Ink LLC [associated with Jeffrey M. Gross] added another four lawsuits to the one it filed last week relating to an “electronic mortgage closing document processing system.” VirtaMove Corp [f/k/a Appzero] added another two lawsuits to the new campaign it began last week relating to containerization. As discussed further below TG–2006 Holdings LLC filed seven new complaints this week it a campaign that it began in December 2023.

TG–2006 Holdings LLC Campaign Grows

TG–2006 Holdings filed its first lawsuit in December 2023, asserting three patents, generally related to “tracking information in a business environment,” against filesharing provided by Open Text. This week TG–2006 Holdings LLC filed another seven lawsuits asserting the same three patents (in varying combinations) against Sync.com, Siber Systems, pCloud, Microsoft, Acronis, Box, and Wrike, also accusing each defendant’s filesharing and project management products.

Centripetal Networks Receives Favorable Verdict

This week a jury found certain Palo Alto Networks cybersecurity products infringed four patents asserted by Centripetal Networks, awarding Centripetal $151.1M in damages. Several of the patents involved are also asserted in a still-pending suit against LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, Inc.

Centripetal was also the recipient of a $2.7B judgement against Cisco last June. Following a bench trial, a judge found that Cisco network security products infringed four of Centripetal’s patents and also awarded enhanced damages based on a finding of willful infringement. However, that judgement was overturned due to conflicts held by the judge in that case. Another district court judge has since overturned the underlying infringement judgement in that case as well.

First NPE Lawsuits Filed in the UPC

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) hears cases regarding infringement and revocation proceedings for European patents for all EU Member States having ratified the UPC Agreement. There was much speculation that the new UPC would draw high numbers of non-practicing entity (NPE) lawsuits given the powerful remedies offered by the UPC, including injunctions that apply throughout its 17 member states. However, since the UPC came into effect this past June (seven months ago), there still had been no NPE filings. . . until this week.

Two different NPEs have filed suits this week, both concerning semiconductor technology: Network System Technologies sued Texas Instruments, Audi and Volkswagen while ICPillar has filed suit against the ARM Group.

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

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