$2,000 awarded for Jeffrey M. Gross entity, Conexus, network security patent prior art

Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners, Tanya Chauhan and Ketan Sachdeva, who split an award of $2,000 for their prior art submissions on U.S. Patent 10,812,497, owned and asserted by Conexus LLC, an NPE and entity of Jeffrey M. Gross. The '497 patent details systems and methods for detecting network security threats through application data flow and connection lineage tracing within enterprise, cloud, and IoT environments. It focuses on collecting connection and application execution information, tracking users, and machines involved to identify suspicious activities. It has been asserted against Splunk, Rapid7, and Wallarm.

We would also like to thank the dozens of other high-quality submissions that were made on this patent. The ongoing contests are open to anyone, and include tens of thousands of dollars in rewards available for helping the industry to challenge NPE patents of questionable validity by finding and submitting prior art in the contests. Visit PATROLL today to learn more about how to participate.

WINNING SUBMISSION

• US 9026840

• US 8352589

• US 9753796

• KR 100687736

$3,000 for Valtrus data security patent prior art

Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest, with a $3,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 7,904,686, owned and asserted by Valtrus Innovations Ltd., an NPE. The '686 patent describes a method and apparatus for enhancing data security within a file system. The invention addresses shortcomings in existing data security by offering an alternative to traditional encryption-decryption methods and online licensing checks, which can be time-consuming, confusing, or insufficient for preventing unauthorized file reconstruction. The patent has been asserted against Apache Hadoop implementations within applications owned or created by The Home Depot, NetApp, and FedEx.

The contest will expire on December 1, 2025. Please visit PATROLL for more information and to submit an entry for the contest. PATROLL researchers are required to use Pearl to generate claim charts. Submitted invalidity charts must address every limitation of the challenged claim. This may require using more than one prior art reference. PATROLL researchers are required to use Pearl to initially generate claim charts, and then researchers must add relevant figures and highlighting before submitting each chart. Each PATROLL researcher can generate up to 30 invalidity claim charts per month using Pearl. These charts can be downloaded then submitted to PATROLL.

This PATROLL contest is co-sponsored by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) and is a part of a continuing series of contests in their Cloud Native Heroes Challenge program. Cloud native developers can earn swag and prizes by helping us defeat patent trolls. Find more information on CNCF and the challenges within the links below:

• CNCF Blog: Announcing the Cloud Native Heroes Challenge

• CNCF Blog: Announcing the Inaugural Contest

• Computer Weekly blog

• Cloud Native Now article

$3,000 awarded for Cloud-Native Heroes Challenge - prior art found on Proxense '640

Unified Patents and Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) are pleased to announce the winning prior art submissions in the Cloud Native Heroes Challenge, a patent troll bounty program. The results of this contest demonstrate the benefits of engaging open source developers and technologists with domain expertise in the fight against patent trolls.

We would like to thank the dozens of high-quality submissions that were made on these patents. The ongoing contests are open to anyone and offer tens of thousands of dollars in rewards available for helping the industry to challenge NPE patents of questionable validity by finding and submitting prior art in the contests. Visit PATROLL today to learn more about how to participate.

Contest & Winning Submissions

Jake Winter was awarded $3,000 for his prior art submission on claim 17 of U.S. Patent 11,095,640, owned and asserted by Proxense LLC, an NPE. The '640 patent focuses on a system and method for securely and automatically authenticating users to access data or applications, notably through radio frequency identification (RFID) and electronic authentication technologies. The patent has been asserted against Hyundai.

WINNING PATENT SUBMISSIONS - DOWNLOAD WINNING CHART

• US 7178034

• US 7941534

Find more information on CNCF and the prior art challenges within the links below:

• CNCF Blog: Announcing the Cloud Native Heroes Challenge

• CNCF Blog: Announcing the Inaugural Contest

• CNCF Blog: List of Cloud Native Heroes Challenges

• Computer Weekly blog

• Cloud Native Now article

$2,000 awarded for Key Patent Innovations entity, Malikie Innovations, video streaming patent prior art

Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners, Nitish Jaswal, Huang Chien-Cheng, and Calvin Zhong, who split an award of $2,000 for their prior art submissions on U.S. Patent 8,411,742, owned by Malikie Innovations Limited, an NPE and entity of Key Patent Innovations. The ‘742 patent introduces a hybrid video encoder that optimizes multivariable solutions across various elements, such as quantizers and motion compensators, by employing soft decision processing.

We would also like to thank the dozens of other high-quality submissions that were made on this patent. The ongoing contests are open to anyone, and include tens of thousands of dollars in rewards available for helping the industry to challenge NPE patents of questionable validity by finding and submitting prior art in the contests. Visit PATROLL today to learn more about how to participate.

WINNING SUBMISSION

• US 6249546

• Rate Distortion Optimized Quantization (“Wang”)

• US 6167162

• Context-Based Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (“CABAC”)

$2,000 awarded for Adaptive Avenue website patent prior art

Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Ekta Aswal, for her prior art submission on U.S. Patent 7,171,629, owned and asserted by Adaptive Avenue Associates, Inc., an NPE. The '629 patent focuses on an enhanced web site access system, improving user experience through automated, customizable navigation across multiple web pages. It replaces static web browsing with dynamic presentations, incorporating bookmarks and slideshow features for ease of use and efficient content delivery. It has been asserted against several but most recently Amazon, Home Depot, eBay, Best Buy, Costco, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, OpticsPlanet, and PetCo.

We would also like to thank the dozens of other high-quality submissions that were made on this patent. The ongoing contests are open to anyone, and include tens of thousands of dollars in rewards available for helping the industry to challenge NPE patents of questionable validity by finding and submitting prior art in the contests. Visit PATROLL today to learn more about how to participate.

WINNING SUBMISSION

• US 7290204