SecureWave Storage Solutions patent determined to be likely invalid

On July 12, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims in an IPR filed by Unified against US Patent 7,036,020, owned and asserted by SecureWave Storage Solutions, Inc., an affiliate of Quarterhill Inc. (f/k/a Wi-LAN Inc.), a well-known NPE.  The ’020 patent, directed to securing areas of a memory device to limit access to stored data, has been asserted against Kingston Technology Corporation and Micron Technology.  

View SecureWave’s district court litigation here.  To read the petition and view the entire case proceeding, see our PTAB Portal. 

Prior art found for Yu & Zhang patent!

Unified is pleased to announce the PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Madhur Goel, who received a cash prize of $3,000 for his prior art submission for U.S. Patent 6,611,289, owned by Yanbin Yu and Zhongxuan Zhang. The '289 patent, directed to a system and method for producing enhanced images using a digital camera with multiple image sensors and lenses, has been asserted in multiple district court cases. To help the industry fight bad patents, we have published the winning prior art below.

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

Clean Energy Management (Dominion Harbor) patent determined to be likely invalid

On July 3, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims in an IPR filed by Unified against U.S. Patent 8,035,479, owned and asserted by well-known NPE Dominion Harbor subsidiary Clean Energy Management Solutions, LLC.  The ‘479 patent, directed to a mesh network door lock, has been asserted against over 15 companies including Crestron, Cisco Systems, and Lowe's. 

Unified is represented by DLA Piper in this proceeding. View Clean Energy Management's district court litigation.  To read the petition and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified’s Portal.

Browse 3D patent challenged as likely invalid

On July 3, 2019, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against US Patent 10,031,897, owned by Browse 3D, LLC, an NPE. The ‘897 patent, generally directed to a method for providing website recommendations by monitoring a user’s selection of hyperlinks within a current web page, has been asserted against various retailers such as Nordstrom, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Carter’s.

View Browse 3D’s district court litigation here. Jessica Marks and Roshan Mansinghani are representing Unified in this proceeding. To read the petition and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified's Portal.

Varatec, LLC patent challenged as likely unpatentable

On July 3, 2019, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against US Patent 7,792,256, owned by Varatec, LLC, an NPE. The ‘256 patent, directed to “a system and method for remotely monitoring, controlling, and managing equipment at one or more premises,” has been asserted against Comcast and ADT, among others.

View Varatec’s district court litigation here. Jung Hahm and Ashraf Fawzy are representing Unified in this proceeding. To read the petition and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified's Portal.