Data Scape patent determined to be likely invalid

On November 26, 2019, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims in an IPR filed by Unified against U.S. Patent 7,720,929, owned and asserted by Data Scape Limited, a Fortress subsidiary and well-known NPE. The ‘929 patent, directed to directed to controlling the transfer of digital files from one computing device to another, has been asserted against numerous companies including Amazon, Apple, Box, Citrix, Dell, Dropbox, F5 Networks, Spotify, Teradata, and Verizon.  

Unified is represented by Larissa Bifano and Michael Van Handel at DLA Piper in this proceeding. View Data Scape's district court litigation. To read the petition and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified's Portal.

$1,400 Cash Prize for Prior Art on "E-mail content detection" Patent

On November 22, 2019, Unified added a new PATROLL contest with a $1,400 cash prize for prior art submissions for US 7,092,993. The '993 patent, generally directed to a method and system for customizing e-mail transmissions based on content detection, is owned by E-Attach LLC (an NPE) and has been asserted in district court. To protect innovation and deter future frivolous assertions, Unified is offering a $1,400 cash prize for the best prior art on this patent.

The contest will expire on February 22, 2020. Please visit PATROLL for more information or to submit an entry for this contest.

Submit Prior Art

$1,200 Cash Prize for Prior Art on "Earphones holder" Patent

On November 22, 2019, Unified added a new PATROLL contest with a $1,200 cash prize for prior art submissions for US 9,167,329. The '329 patent, generally directed to a magnetic earphones holder, is owned by Snik LLC (an NPE) and has been asserted in district court. To protect innovation and deter future frivolous assertions, Unified is offering a $1,200 cash prize for the best prior art on this patent.

The contest will expire on February 22, 2020. Please visit PATROLL for more information or to submit an entry for this contest.

Submit Prior Art

Cassiopeia IP (IP Edge) patent challenged as likely unpatentable

On November 18, 2019, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 7,322,046, owned and asserted by Cassiopeia IP LLC, an IP Edge affiliate and well-known NPE.  The ‘046 patent, generally directed to secure use of a network service, has been widely asserted in 18 district court litigations against such companies as Best Buy, Western Digital, Aruba Networks, Epson America, and Funai.  

View Cassiopeia's district court litigation.  To read the petition and view the case record, see Unified's Portal.  Unified is represented by in-house counsel Alyssa Holtslander in this proceeding. 

Patent Litigation Report: Open Source 2012-2018

In a recent study, Unified examined district court litigation involving patents asserted against open source solutions. Unified identified approximately 260 district court cases since 2012 that involved open source projects/platforms.

First and foremost, the study revealed that litigation against products and features derived from open source projects has increased since 2012. While the number of cases is still relatively low compared to other sectors of technology, current trends seem to indicate that such open source litigation is becoming more common.

Utilizing the NPE status information provided through Unified’s Portal, the study also revealed that approximately 59% of these open source cases are initiated by NPEs.

A closer examination of these cases revealed that open source reliant “Systems” (such as APIs, operating systems, developer tools, etc.) were targeted about 38% of the time. “Web” products and services (e.g., UI/UX, hosting platforms) were the next most targeted at 27% of all open source cases. For more information about these categories, view Unified’s Open Source Zone definition (available here).

Methodology

This report includes all District Court cases filed between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2018.

Total number of reported cases can vary based on what is included. Unified made its best attempt to eliminate mistaken, duplicative, or changes in venue filings, hence the totals may vary slightly compared to other reporting services. Statistics include litigations initiated by NPEs and Declaratory Judgments (DJs) initiated by operating companies against NPEs.

Unified strives to accurately identify NPEs through all available means, such as court filings, public documents, and product documentation.