Another Velos Media patent challenged as likely unpatentable

On January 2, 2020, Unified filed a petition (with WilmerHale serving as lead counsel) for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 9,414,066, owned by Velos Media, LLC (Velos), as part of Unified's ongoing efforts in its SEP Video Codec Zone.

The ‘066 patent and its corresponding extended patent family is one of the largest families known to be owned by Velos, representing nearly 5% of Velos’ total U.S. patent grants. Including this petition, Unified has now challenged patents representing over 42% 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 ’066 patent is directed to video decoding techniques and was originally assigned to Ericsson before being transferred to Velos in 2018.  After conducting an independent analysis, Unified has determined that the ‘066 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 IPR2020-00352 on the Portal.

Unified seeks Director/VP of Sales & Business Development

Unified is a private, subscription-based company that is disrupting the patent market. 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 enter new markets.

The professional will help grow Unified's business and will assist in the company’s strategic direction, help drive membership activities related to a range of technology areas, and assist with dealing with NPEs. They will identify potential markets, technologies, partners, and members, and lead in achieving agreements with them. The successful candidate will assist in developing new business models for revenue generation using Unified's unique value proposition.

The candidate should have a thorough knowledge of different technologies and IP departments at those companies, and have an awareness of general trends which affect these industries. They should already have worked, interacted, and/or sold to IP Departments of major high-tech corporations.

The position requires the individual to be passionate about patent law and Intellectual Property, have a high degree of independence, and is goal-oriented. Aggressive compensation and flexible work environment is included. For more details about the position and instructions on how to apply, view the full job listing.

AutoBrilliance patent challenged as likely invalid

On December 31, 2019, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 6,792,351, owned and asserted by AutoBrilliance, LLC, an NPE.  The ‘351 patent, directed to multi-vehicle communication, has been asserted in district court litigation against Toyota.

View Autobrilliance's district court litigation.  To read the petition and view the case record, see Unified's Portal.  Unified is represented by Raghav Bajaj and David McCombs at Haynes and Boone in this proceeding.

TransactionSecure patent challenged as likely invalid

On December 31, 2019, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 8,738,921, owned and asserted by TransactionSecure, LLC, an NPE.  The ‘921 patent, directed to user authentication systems and methods, has been asserted in multiple district court cases against such companies as Formstack, Fitbit, Facebook, Stripe, and Github.

View TransactionSecure's district court litigation.  To read the petition and view the case record, see Unified's Portal.  Unified is represented by Jason Mudd and Eric Buresh at Erise IP in this proceeding.

Zyrcuits (IP Edge) patent challenged as likely invalid

On December 31, 2019, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 6,671,307, owned and asserted by Zyrcuits IP, LLC, an IP Edge affiliate and well-known NPE.  The ‘307 patent, directed to spread-spectrum communications systems, has been asserted in multiple district court cases against such companies as Bosch Security, Samsung, Assa Abloy, and Wink Labs.

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