On July 26, 2019, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against US Patent 8,139,651, owned by DivX, LLC (a subsidiary of well-known NPE Fortress Investment Group) as part of Unified's ongoing efforts in its SEP Video Codec Zone. The '651 patent, directed to a method for deblocking reconstructed video frames, has been asserted in district court litigation against Netflix and Hulu. Unified is represented by Haynes and Boone in this proceeding.
Visit Unified’s Portal for more information about its Video Codec landscape (OPAL) and standard submission repository (OPEN). To read the petition and review the case record, view IPR2019-01379 on Unified’s Portal.
Uniloc patent determined to be likely invalid
On July 26, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims in an IPR filed by Unified against US Patent 7,020,252, owned by Uniloc, a well-known NPE. The ’252 patent, directed to a “communal recording system” that restricts access to recorded audio messages to subsequent users, has been asserted against Apple, Microsoft, and Hike in district court.
Unified is represented by Finnegan in this proceeding. View district court litigation for the ‘252 patent. To read the petition and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified’s Portal.
Portal Communications (Dominion Harbor) patent determined to be likely invalid
On July 25, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all claims in an IPR filed by Unified against US Patent 7,376,645, owned by Portal Communications, a Dominion Harbor subsidiary and well-known NPE. The ’645 patent, directed to systems that allow verbal natural language querying about items near the user, has been asserted against Apple, Microsoft, and SoundHound in district court.
Unified is represented by Ropes & Gray in this proceeding. View district court litigation for the ‘645 patent. To read the petition and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified’s Portal.
SISVEL patent determined to be likely invalid
On July 24, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims in an IPR filed by Unified against US Patent 7,734,680, owned by S.I.SV.EL. S.p.A., an NPE. The ’680 patent, directed to a recommendation engine that generates a user profile based on a user’s interests and suggests content based on similar user profiles, has been asserted against Spotify, Rhapsody, and Rakuten in district court. At the time of this decision, Spotify and Rhapsody are in active litigation.
Unified is represented by Erise IP in this proceeding. View district court litigation for the ‘680 patent. To read the petition and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified’s Portal.
Universal Cipher (formerly Cumberland Systems) patent determined to be likely invalid
On July 16, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims in an IPR filed by Unified against US Patent 8,023,647, owned by Universal Cipher LLC, an NPE (f/k/a Cumberland Systems, a Brad Liddle entity). The ’647 patent, directed to encrypting of a password or other secret information, has been asserted in twenty-four district court cases, all of which have been terminated.
Unified is represented by Ropes & Gray in this proceeding. View district court litigation for the ‘647 patent. To read the petition and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified’s Portal.