Unified seeks sales professional for its growing SEP offerings

Unified is a private, subscription-based company that is disrupting the Standard Essential Patent (SEP) space. The team is looking for a passionate and self-starting individual (preferably with a law degree) to join the company in a senior role to continue our growth and help Unified enter new markets.

This professional will help guide Unified’s strategic direction and membership activities related to a range of SEP solutions that Unified has already developed or that are currently in development. They will identify potential markets, technologies, partners, and members and lead in achieving agreements with them.

The position requires an individual passionate about patent law and Intellectual Property. The ideal candidate will have a thorough knowledge of the above-stated industries and IP departments at those companies, as well as an awareness of general trends which affect these industries. They should already have worked with, interacted with, and/or sold to IP Departments of major high-tech corporations.

Unified provides competitive compensation and benefits as well as a flexible work environment. For more details about the position and instructions on how to apply, view the full job listing.

Parity Networks patent added to PATROLL

On August 26, 2019, Unified added a new PATROLL contest with a $2000 cash prize for prior art submissions for US 6,870,844. The '844 patent, directed to multicasting data packets within a router port, is owned by Parity Networks, LLC (a well-known NPE) and has been asserted in district court litigation. To protect innovation and deter future frivolous assertions, Unified is offering a $2,000 cash prize for the best prior art on this patent.

The contest will expire on November 26, 2019. Please visit PATROLL for more information or to submit an entry for this contest.

Another Velos Media patent determined to be likely unpatentable

On August 20, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial in an IPR filed by Unified against the sole claim of US Patent 8,767,824, owned by Velos Media, LLC. Velos claims to have and seeks to license patents allegedly essential to the HEVC / H.265 standard (such as the ‘824 patent). Unified filed this challenge as part of its ongoing efforts in its SEP Video Codec Zone after independently determining that the allegedly standard essential ‘824 patent is likely unpatentable.

The ‘824 patent and its corresponding extended patent family represents approximately 3% of Velos' known U.S. assets. The ’824 patent, generally directed to techniques for video encoding and decoding, was originally assigned to Sharp before being transferred to Velos in 2017.

Unified is represented by David Cavanaugh and Theodoros Konstantakopoulos from Wilmer Hale in this proceeding. Visit Unified’s Portal for more information about its Video Codec landscape (OPAL) and standard submission repository (OPEN). To read the decision and review the case record, view IPR2019-00635 on the Portal.

Impact Sport Techs. abandons patent after PTAB institutes IPR

On August 12, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) terminated proceedings in Unified Patents Inc. v. Impact Sport Techs., Inc., after Impact Sport Technologies abandoned all claims of U.S. Patent 8,460,197 (previously owned and asserted by Health Watch, LLC, a Dominion Harbor subsidiary and well-known NPE). Patent Owner’s request for adverse judgment was filed shortly after the Board’s July 26th order instituting inter partes review for all claims. The ‘197 patent, directed to wearable sensors and electronic devices, has been asserted against Huawei and Samsung.

Unified was represented by Wilson Sonsini in this matter. View district court litigation for the ‘197 patent. To read the decision and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified’s Portal.

All claims of Uniloc patent held unpatentable by PTAB

On August 8, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a public version of its final written decision in Unified Patents Inc. v. Uniloc USA, Inc. et al., holding as unpatentable all 16 claims of U.S. Patent 7,092,671 owned by Fortress Credit Co. LLC (a Softbank subsidiary) and asserted by Uniloc Luxembourg, SA, a well-known NPE. The '671 patent, directed to an automated telephone dialing system, has been asserted in multiple district court cases against such companies as Apple and Samsung.

The Board’s decision rejected Patent Owner's argument that Unified’s members should have been named as RPIs in this proceeding. This is the latest in a series of decisions that have consistently found Unified to be the sole RPI.

Unified was represented by Wilmer Hale in this matter. View all of Uniloc’s district court litigation here. To read the decision and to view the entire IPR proceeding, visit Unified’s Portal.