New portfolio valuation tool available on Unified's Portal

Unified is pleased to announce the latest addition to its patent analytics tools, the Portfolio Value IndeX (PVIX).  As recently featured by IAM, PVIX is an internally developed tool designed to measure the relative value for a patent portfolio based on research derived from published empirical studies. The score evaluates three key components — (1) Family, (2) Market, and (3) Reputation — for each patent to create a composite PVIX score. More details are available in the methodology.

PVIX is a powerful tool that can be used in conjunction with Unified’s APIX (validity), CITX (value) and BRIX (broadness) ratings to instantly identify the relative value of an entire portfolio as well as the most significant patents within that portfolio. For example, a user can use the APIX, BRIX, and CITX ratings to assess the validity and broadness of potential licensor’s portfolio. Next, using PVIX, a user can determine the value of those patents relative to their own portfolio within the same technology field in order to inform their buying strategy (see more examples here).

This chart shows the companies with the highest average PVIX value. However, portfolio size is also an important consideration in assessing portfolio value. Hence, Unified’s Portal allows users to switch between these views to gain a better understanding of the quantity and quality of any given portfolio.

Users can search PVIX ratings for any custom group of patents, creating a range of potential applications. Unified’s objective with this tool is to enable users to compare different portfolios and provide an efficient evaluation for patent assets as may be necessary in the course of due diligence and financial transactions.

For more information about PVIX, visit Unified’s Portal or read this report published by IAM.

Yet another Velos Media patent determined to be likely unpatentable

On September 11, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial in an IPR filed by Unified against all claims of US Patent 9,930,365, 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 ‘365 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 ‘365 patent is likely unpatentable.

The ‘365 patent and its corresponding extended patent family is one of Velos’ largest families representing approximately 4.3% of Velos' known U.S. assets. The ’365 patent, generally directed to encoding and decoding video data using macroblocks, was originally owned by Qualcomm before being transferred to Velos in 2017.

Unified is represented by Eric Buresh and Michelle Callaghan from Erise IP 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 IPR2019-00757 on the Portal.

Velos Media patent determined to be likely unpatentable

On September 10, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial in an IPR filed by Unified against all independent claims and several dependent claims of US Patent 9,979,981, owned by Velos Media, LLC. The ’981 patent is generally directed to techniques for encoding images that are in the 4:2:0 sampling format using the H.264/AVC coding format.

Velos claims to have and seeks to license patents allegedly essential to the HEVC / H.265 standard (such as the ‘981 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 ‘981 patent is likely unpatentable.

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 IPR2019-00707 on the Portal.

All challenged claims of Sound View patent held unpatentable by PTAB

On September 9, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision in Unified Patents Inc. v. Sound View Innovations, LLC, holding as unpatentable both challenged claims of U.S. Patent 9,462,074 owned and asserted by Sound View Innovations, a well-known NPE. The '074 patent, directed to a technique for enhancing existing caches in a network, has been asserted in multiple cases against such companies as Facebook and Hulu.

Haynes and Boone represented Unified Patents in this matter. View all of Sound View's District Court litigation here. To read the decision and to view the entire IPR proceeding, visit our PTAB Portal. 

In-House Only CLE Luncheon - Austin, TX - October 8th

PTAB DISCRETION - WHAT IN-HOUSE COUNSEL SHOULD KNOW

Over the past several months, the PTAB has markedly changed how it applies its discretion to deny institution of petitions of a patent that has been challenged previously.  The changes will be summarized and developing strategies for when and whether to file IPR petitions in view of these changes will be discussed.

Join us for a private CLE luncheon in Austin, TX presented by Roshan Mansinghani at Fleming's Steakhouse at the Domain on Tuesday, October 8th, at 11:30a. This is our fourth in a series of private CLE luncheons for in-house counsel and a great opportunity to meet and network with other Austin-based in-house counsel all while earning CLE credits. Previous attendees to our luncheons have been from NetApp, CA Technologies, Magento, HPE, Dell, and several others.

Register HERE and we look forward to seeing you in Austin!