Another Velos Media patent challenged as likely unpatentable

On October 8, 2019, Unified filed a petition (with Finnegan serving as lead counsel) for inter partes review (IPR) against US Patent 9,094,682, owned by Velos Media, LLC (Velos), as part of Unified's ongoing efforts in its SEP Video Codec Zone.

The ‘682 patent and its corresponding extended patent family is one of the largest families known to be owned by Velos. Including this petition, Unified has now challenged patents representing over 43% of Velos’ total known U.S. assets.

Velos claims to have and seeks to license patents allegedly essential to the HEVC / H.265 standard. The ’682 patent is directed to video decoding techniques and was originally assigned to Panasonic Corporation before being transferred to Velos in 2018.  After conducting an independent analysis, Unified has determined that the ‘682 patent is likely unpatentable.

Visit Unified’s Public 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 IPR2019-01663 on the Portal.

AVInnov patent challenged as likely invalid

On October 3, 2019, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 7,173,177, owned and asserted by AVInnov LLC, an NPE.  The ‘177 patent, directed to indicating on a user interface whether items in an playlist are owned or unowned, has been asserted against Spectrum (Charter Communications).  

View AVInnov's district court litigation.  To read the petition and view the case record, see Unified's Portal.  Unified is represented by Husch Blackwell in this proceeding. 

Twitter and Spotify join Unified

We are pleased to announce that Twitter and Spotify are now Unified members. They are joining 250+ other companies committed to deterring the assertion of bad patents by non-practicing entities (NPEs). With the addition of these companies, almost all major North American and European social media, video, and music platforms are Unified members. Recent studies indicate that NPEs continue to pose a threat to operating companies and account for more than half of all US patent litigation in 2019. Unified is the only entity which deters invalid patent assertions and never pays NPEs.

Another Velos Media patent determined to be likely unpatentable

On October 1, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial in an IPR filed by Unified against all independent claims and most dependent claims of US Patent 10,110,898, owned by Velos Media, LLC. The ’898 patent, generally directed to video quantization techniques for limiting the data that results from the encoding process, represents one of the largest patent families known to be owned by Velos.

Velos claims to have and seeks to license patents allegedly essential to the HEVC / H.265 standard (such as the ‘898 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 ‘898 patent is likely unpatentable.

Unified is represented by Winston & Strawn 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 IPR2019-00763 on the Portal.

SynKloud patent challenged as likely invalid

On September 30, 2019, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 9,098,526, owned and asserted by SynKloud Technologies, LLC, an NPE.  The ‘526 patent, directed to providing remote storage for wireless devices, has been asserted against Hewlett-Packard and Blu Products.  

Unified is represented by Duane Morris in this proceeding.  View SynKloud's district court litigation.  To read the petition and view the case record, see Unified's Portal.