Unified seeks Director of Legal Operations

Unified is a private, subscription-based company that is disrupting the patent market. The team is searching for an ambitious individual, who is familiar in legal services and/or patent law, to fill a non-traditional role.

The Director of Legal Operations will manage many hats since tasks will combine legal, data, and marketing responsibilities. This role will assist in crafting outbound communication and help the software development team to create and test new tools to provide through Unified's Portal. Other tasks include coordinating legal activities, create new member services, and dabble in website development.

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.

Terrestrial Comms patent added to PATROLL

On March 3, 2020, Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest with a $2,000 cash prize for prior art submissions for US 7,411,552. The '552 patent generally relates to a "variety of techniques to achieve the desired impedance matching so that there are more opportunities available to a designer, such as choice of geometry, size, or the like, to achieve the desired operating frequency without compromising the performance of the wireless communication device" (see the background of the invention in the patent specification). The patent is owned by Terrestrial Comms, LLC, an entity associated with Texas monetization firm IPValuation Partners, LLC. Terrestrial Comms has asserted this patent in US district court against Best Buy, Perixx Computer, Acco Brands, and NEC. To protect innovation and deter future frivolous assertions, Unified is offering a $2,000 cash prize for the best prior art on this patent.

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

$2,000 Cash Prize for Prior Art on SISVEL Patent

On February 28, 2020, Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest with a $2,000 cash prize for prior art submissions for US 8,490,123. The '123 patent generally relates to an invention that can "generate a user profile and recommendations on the basis of the user’s previously created playlists and properties derived from them." The patent is owned by SISVEL SPA, a well-known NPE, and has been asserted in district court litigation against Rhapsody and Spotify. To protect innovation and deter future frivolous assertions, Unified is offering a $2,000 cash prize for the best prior art on this patent.

The contest will expire on March 31, 2020. Please visit PATROLL for more information or to submit an entry for this contest.

Prior art found for Riggs Tech Holdings

Unified is pleased to announce the PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Preeti Dua, who received a cash prize of $750 for two prior art submissions for U.S. Patent 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, and has been asserted against various tech companies in district court.

To help the industry fight bad patents, we have published the winning prior art below.

We would also like to thank the dozens of other high-quality submissions that were made on this patent. The ongoing contests are open to anyone, and include tens of thousands of dollars in rewards available for helping the industry to challenge NPE patents of questionable validity by finding and submitting prior art in the contests. Visit PATROLL today to learn more about how to participate.

WINNING SUBMISSIONS

1.pre. 1. A method of Oh discloses that "[t]he present Abrahamson discloses providingmanaging training invention relates to a remote "facilities for fully or partiallycompleted remotely at a education method and apparatus automating the giving and gradinghand held device, said via an internet." Oh at col. 1: 6-7.

KCG Technologies LLC patent determined to be likely invalid

On February 14, 2020, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) instituted trial on all challenged claims in an IPR filed by Unified against US Patent 9,671,955, owned by KCG Technologies LLC, an NPE. The ‘955 patent, generally directed to a virtual smart phones used in in-vehicle systems, has been asserted against CarMax in district court.

View KCG Tech’s district court litigation here. Alyssa Holtslander is lead counsel for Unified in this proceeding. To read the institution decision and view the entire case proceeding, see Unified's Portal.