All Challenged Claims of Fall Line Patent Held Unpatentable; Unified Sole RPI

On April 4, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision in Unified Patents Inc. v. Fall Line Patents, LLC, IPR2018-00043, holding as unpatentable claims 16-19, 21, and 22 of U.S. Patent No. 9,454,748, owned and asserted by Fall Line Patents, LLC, an NPE. The final written decision was made publicly available on May 16, 2019. The ‘748 patent is generally directed to collecting data from a handheld computing device by means of a questionnaire on the handheld computing device and transmitting responses, including GPS coordinates of the handheld computing device, to a server. The ‘748 patent has been asserted against numerous companies including American Airlines, AMC Entertainment, Boston Market,Choice Hotels, Cinemark Theatres, McDonald's, Papa John's, Starbucks, Uber, and Zoës Kitchen. 

In the final written decision, the PTAB determined that Unified was the sole real party-in-interest (RPI) in the proceeding. 

View all of Fall Line's district court litigation here.  To read the decision and to view the entire proceeding, visit our PTAB Portal. Unified was represented by Haynes and Boone in this proceeding.

Velos Media Patent Likely Unpatentable

On May 16, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims against U.S. Patent 9,338,449. The '449 patent is currently owned and alleged to be standard essential by Velos Media, LLC, and was originally owned by Qualcomm, Inc. The '449 patent is directed to scan order techniques for coding transform coefficients and expires in 2032.

This filing is part of Unified's ongoing efforts in its new SEP Video Codec Zone. Velos claims to have and seeks to license patents allegedly essential to the HEVC / H.265 standard. The ‘449 patent and its corresponding extended patent family is the third-largest family known to be owned by Velos. It represents approximately 5.5% of Velos’ total known assets (and 6.25% of its total known U.S. assets).  To date, Unified has challenged over 30% of Velos' known assets.

David Cavanaugh and Theodoros Konstantakopoulos at Wilmer Hale are serving as Unified’s lead counsel in this proceeding. To read the decision and to view the entire IPR proceeding, visit our PTAB Portal.

Unified Launches CyberSecurity Zone with Industry Leading Members

Unified Patents Launches Cybersecurity Protection Zone, Attracts Numerous Industry Leaders and Innovators

Brings Together Fast-Growing Network of Members to Proactively Reduce NPE Activity in the Cybersecurity Sector

San Jose, Calif. – May 20, 2019 – Unified Patents Inc., the world’s only membership organization dedicated to deterring Non-Practicing Entity (NPE) activity, today announced the launch of its Cybersecurity Protection Zone that seeks to deter unsubstantiated or invalid patent assertions within the ever-growing industry.

Cybersecurity companies of all sizes are encouraged to apply for membership in the Cybersecurity Protection Zone, with complimentary membership for small-sized businesses and scaled pricing based on revenue for larger organizations. Membership already includes numerous industry leaders, including Cisco, McAfee, Palo Alto Networks, Rapid7, Red Hat and others.

The Cybersecurity Protection Zone spans all areas of cybersecurity, with members that offer the latest innovation in areas such as Cloud Security, Digital Infrastructure Information Protection; Identity and Access Management (IAM); IT Service Management; and Governance, Risk and Program Management.

Unified Patents’ latest protection zone accompanies its other zones with areas of concentration including cloud, content, IoT, mobile, retail, transactions and transport. Unified’s members benefit from efforts spanning all protection zones.

General Counsels See Unified Patents as a Dedicated Deterrent Partner

"As an independent third party we continue to see great success in deterring patent trolls and killing bad patents –

providing proven, repeated benefits for our wide range of members,” said Kevin Jakel, CEO at Unified Patents. “We are pleased to name many of the biggest brands in the industry as members of Unified Patents’ new Cybersecurity Protection Zone, as this aids both large and small organizations in coming together to fight the sustained IP risk in the industry. General counsels repeatedly praise Unified Patents’ work that provides unending value through powerful, ongoing NPE deterrence activities that are lauded by C-Level management and board members.”

“The cybersecurity industry works best when we collaborate to address common adversaries,” said Corey Thomas, CEO of Rapid7. “Abusive patent lawsuits misuse the court system and tax economic growth and innovation in this vital industry. We looked for an effective deterrent to NPEs, and we are proud to partner with Unified and our industry colleagues to establish the Cybersecurity Protection Zone. We look forward to working with Unified and the Cybersecurity Zone to reduce frivolous patent claims against cybersecurity companies, so that we can all continue to focus on preventing cyberattacks and addressing the cybersecurity challenges facing our customers.”

​With an ever-expanding benefit as its membership increases, the Cybersecurity Protection Zone offers all security-focused companies an opportunity to invest in an impactful and results-oriented organization. Unified Patents never pays any money to NPEs, whether to purchase licenses or otherwise. This ensures that Unified never incentivizes further NPE activity. Additionally, by focusing on deterrence, Unified is never in the conflicted position of negotiating a licensing deal between NPEs and defendants in litigation.

About Unified Patents

Founded in 2012, Unified Patents is an international membership organization that seeks to improve patent quality and deter unsubstantiated or invalid patent assertions in defined technology sectors (Zones) through its activities. As a deterrence entity, its actions are focused on substantial assertions by Standards Essential Patents (SEP) holders and/or Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs). These actions may include analytics, prior art, invalidity contests, patentability analysis, administrative patent review (PTAB), amicus briefs, economic surveys, and essentiality studies. Unified works independently of its members to achieve its deterrence goals. Small members join for free while larger organizations pay modest annual fees. Visit www.unifiedpatents.com.

Company Contact:

Ilja Bedner

Unified Patents Inc.

ilja@unifiedpatents.com

650-999-0889

Press Contact:

Matthew Zintel

Zintel Public Relations

matthew.zintel@zintelpr.com

281.444.1590

Opponents Waive Half of Responses in 2019

In 2019, so far 15 entities have waived or ignored their right to respond to Unified petitions prior to institution. In total, 50% of patent owners have failed to file their patent owner's preliminary response (POPR), a steep decline from previous activity. For instance, in 2018, almost 70% of patent owners filed preliminary responses. 

On the merits, Unified has seen our success rates rise. Indeed, 75% of Unified's 2018 petitions have been instituted or settled this far. While it is too early to measure ultimate outcomes for 2018, our 2017 filings have been successful in the end 83% of the time.

Unified routinely updates our success page which can be found here. For questions or press inquiries, please contact Jennifer@unifiedpatents.com for more information.

Wireless Communications Mobile patent added to PATROLL

On May 8, 2019, Unified added a $1,000 contest to PATROLL seeking prior art for US Patent No. 9125079 which has been asserted on multiple occasions by Wireless Communications Mobile (an NPE). The '079 patent, generally related to technical data monitoring devices, has been asserted in three district court cases to date (all cases filed within a two week period).

Wireless, not the assignee on record (last assignation on record 12/19/2017), recently incorporated (October 2018) and began filing suits in district court.

The contest will expire on August 8, 2019. Please visit PATROLL for more information or to submit an entry for this contest.