NEWS & VIEWS
Unified News, Views, & Blogs
On March 24, 2022, Unified Patents added a new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 10,726,102, owned by IPRA Technologies Limited OY, an NPE. The '102 patent relates to accessing restrictive content. The patent has been asserted against Google, Netflix, Sony, Apple, Amazon, Intertrust Technologies, and Philips.
The contest will expire on July 15, 2022. Please visit PATROLL for more information and to submit an entry for this contest.
Below is an except of an opinion piece written by Unified’s CEO and Co-Founder, Kevin Jakel, for IPWatchdog.com.
“[The PTAB] has been successful over the years in checking significant numbers of asserted invalid patents, by some measures saving the U.S. economy billions of dollars over…. And yet, many self-interested parties would rather the PTAB not exist, and are suggesting the OpenSky email is evidence of systemic malaise.”
You’ve probably heard about all of the VLSI drama: the eye-popping $2.18 billion judgment won by non-practicing entity (NPE) VLSI (funded by Fortress IP), mysterious post-judgment inter partes reviews (IPRs) filed against the VLSI patents, and finally the now-notorious email from OpenSky offering to disrupt their own IPR in exchange for a fee. Folks have jumped all over the email from OpenSky for its obvious bad behavior, but they are also using it as an indictment of the entire Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). What is noteworthy here is not the email—this type of behavior is extremely rare. The real story here is what the system got right, and where it failed.
On March 10, 2022, InterDigital elected to withdraw the approval of their claims on both EP 1869893 B1 and EP 1872588 B1, bringing Unified’s opposition proceedings to an end. The EP ’893 and EP ’588 patents were part of a family purportedly essential to HEVC and part of the SISVEL AV1 patent pool. This filing is a part of Unified’s ongoing efforts in its SEP Video Codec Zone.
Unified is represented by Andrew McGettrick and Susan Keston from HGF Law, and by in-house counsel, Jessica L.A. Marks and Jung Hahm.
Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners, Vibhor Dimri and Ron Penaflor, who split a cash prize of $3,000 for their prior art submissions for U.S. Patent 6,687,343. The patent is owned by Tekvoke LLC, an NPE and entity of IP Edge. The '343 patent is directed to an Internet communication control apparatus selectively connected to communication terminals and a computer network and a method for controlling such an apparatus. This patent has been asserted against over 20 companies, including Cable One, Intrado Corporation, AireSpring, Block Communications, Brekeke Software, IDT Corporation, and Nextiva. Tekvoke had been targeting web-based PBX (private box exchange) connected to telephones and smart device apps.
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 SUBMISSION
Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winners, Preeti Dua and Ramesh Varadharaj, who split a cash prize of $2,000 for their prior art submissions for U.S. Patent 10,535,058. The patent is owned by Mobile Equity Corp, an NPE. The '058 patent generally relates to a system and method that a mobile device is used to initiate and execute a transaction between a customer and a merchant. It is currently being asserted against Walmart.
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 SUBMISSION
