MOAEC Techs. abandons patent after PTAB institutes IPR

On October 23, 2019, the Board granted MOAEC Technologies request for adverse judgment and cancellation of all challenged claims in IPR2018-01758 filed by Unified Patents. MOAEC Technologies, a General Patent Corporation subsidiary and well-known NPE, is the owner of US 6,232,539 relating to a music organizer and entertainment center. Unified filed a petition against the '539 patent last September, which was instituted in April. On the eve of Unified's reply due date, MOAEC disclaimed all the challenged claims and requested adverse judgment.

MOAEC previously sued Spotify, SoundCloud, and Deezer in the District of Delaware, where Judge Stark found the asserted claims to be invalid under 35 USC 101. MOAEC appealed the 101 ruling to the Federal Circuit, but ultimately settled with the defendants and withdrew its appeal.

Lionel Lavenue, Trenton Ward, and Nathan North at Finnegan served as Unified’s outside counsel in this proceeding. View all of MOAEC Technologies’ District Court litigation here. To read the decision and to view the entire IPR proceeding, visit our PTAB Portal.

$2,500 Cash Prize for Prior Art on Rothschild "Photo Transfer" Patent

On October 15, 2019, Unified added a new PATROLL contest with a $2,500 cash prize for prior art submissions for US 9,936,086. The '086 patent, generally directed to a system and method for the wireless transfer of photos between mobile devices is owned by Rothschild Patent Imaging, LLC (an NPE) and has been widely asserted in district court. As previously reported, one of these lawsuits targets the GNOME Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides completely free, open-source software solutions for the public. To protect innovation and deter future frivolous assertions, Unified is offering a $2,500 cash prize for the best prior art on this patent.

The contest will expire on January 15, 2020. Please visit PATROLL for more information or to submit an entry for this contest.

Submit Prior Art

$1,000 prize for prior art on "streaming video selection" patent

On October 14, 2019, Unified added a new PATROLL contest with a $1,000 cash prize for prior art submissions for US 10,205,986. The '986 patent, generally directed to systems and methods that couple mobile streaming video over unguided media to a network for viewer selection is owned by Gabriel De La Vega (an NPE) and has been asserted in district court. To protect innovation and deter future frivolous assertions, Unified is offering a $1,000 cash prize for the best prior art on this patent.

The contest will expire on January 14, 2020. Please visit PATROLL for more information or to submit an entry for this contest.

Submit Prior Art

$1,000 prize for prior art on Riggs Technology "online training" patent

On October 14, 2019, Unified added a new PATROLL contest with a $1,000 cash prize for prior art submissions for US 7,299,067. The '067 patent, generally directed to a system and method for providing and managing training over a network is owned by Riggs Technology Holdings, LLC (an NPE) and has been asserted against various tech companies in district court. To protect innovation and deter future frivolous assertions, Unified is offering a $1,000 cash prize for the best prior art on this patent.

The contest will expire on January 14, 2020. Please visit PATROLL for more information or to submit an entry for this contest.

Submit Prior Art

Unified Welcomes New Patent Attorneys to its Growing Legal Team

Unified is pleased to announce the addition of Jordan Rossen, David Seastrunk and Michelle Callaghan to its growing team of patent attorneys and IP professionals. Each of these attorneys comes with a wealth of experience and technical expertise from working on post-grant proceedings at distinguished patent law firms to assist Unified’s ever-expanding mission to deter patent abuse wherever it is found.

Additional information about Jordan, David and Michelle is available below as well as under the Team section of Unified’s website.

Jordan Rossen, Senior Patent Counsel
Jordan prepares and litigates post-grant proceedings before the PTAB for Unified Patents. Prior to joining Unified, Jordan practiced in the intellectual property litigation departments at Ropes & Gray and Paul Hastings in Washington, DC for eleven years. In his previous roles, Jordan represented clients in front of the PTAB, International Trade Commission, district courts, and Federal Circuit. Jordan has worked on cases involving various industries and fields, including computer hardware and software, data processing, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and material science, energy and geosciences, insurance, banking, vehicle telematics, semiconductors, and plastics. Jordan also has experience in cases involving trade secret misappropriation, unfair competition, and copyright infringement. Jordan earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

David Seastrunk, Senior Patent Counsel
David prepares and litigates post-grant proceedings before the PTAB for Unified Patents. Prior to joining Unified, David practiced at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP for several years. At Finnegan, David was involved in litigating all phases of post-grant proceedings, district court cases, and investigations before the International Trade Commission. David also practiced patent prosecution and client counseling, developing opinions on infringement, validity, and freedom-to-operate. David’s experience spans a wide range electrical and mechanical technologies, including software, consumer electronics, data processing, wireless communications, industrial manufacturing, unmanned aerial systems (UAS), fibers, textiles, polymers, films, and medical devices. David earned his J.D. from the University of North Carolina School of Law and his B.S. in Textile Engineering from North Carolina State University.

Michelle Callaghan, Senior Patent Counsel
Michelle prepares and litigates post-grant proceedings before the PTAB for Unified Patents. Prior to joining Unified, Michelle practiced at Erise IP, where she defended clients against patent demands in district courts, challenged patents before the PTAB, and prepared opinions on patent validity and infringement. Michelle worked on a broad range of patent matters in a wide range of technologies including communication networks, video coding and decoding, virtual reality, financial transaction security, mobile devices, vehicle systems, digital rights management, cloud storage, and multimedia content delivery. Michelle earned her J.D. from the University of Colorado Law School, where she focused on IP law and prosecuted patents as part of her law school clinical program. Michelle earned her B.S. in environmental engineering from Johns Hopkins University.