IP Investments Group entity DigiMedia Tech patent challenged

On June 27, 2022, Unified Patents filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 6,473,532, owned and asserted by DigiMedia Tech LLC, an NPE and an IP Investments Group entity. The ‘532 patent relates generally to processing and encoding of video images for later compression by standard compression techniques. This patent has been asserted against ViacomCBS, Lenovo, and Panasonic.

View district court litigations by DigiMedia Tech. To read the petition and view the case record, see Unified’s Portal. Unified was represented by Trenton Ward at Finnegan, and by in-house counsel, Roshan Mansinghani and David Seastrunk, in this proceeding.

IP Edge entity Invincible IP patent challenged

On June 29, 2022, Unified filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) against U.S. Patent 9,635,134, owned and asserted by Invincible IP LLC, an IP Edge entity. The ‘134 patent relates to virtual machine migration schemes in cloud computing environments and has been asserted against a variety of companies, including Citrix Systems, NetApp, HashiCorp, Rackspace Technology, and McAfee.

View district court litigations by Invincible IP. To read the petition and view the case record, see Unified’s Portal. Unified is represented by in-house counsel, Jordan Rossen and Alyssa Holtslander.

$2,000 Awarded for Big Will Enterprises '951 prior art

Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Vibhor Dimri, who was awarded a cash prize of $2,000 for his prior art submission for U.S. Patent 8,737,951. The patent is owned by Big Will Enterprises, Inc., an NPE. The patent generally relates to an interactive personal surveillance and security (IPSS) system for users carrying wireless communication devices. The patent has been asserted against Montblanc, Unaliwear, and Kronoz.

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

• WO 2005017846A2

• US 20070174467A1

Unified Launches Analog Semiconductor Zone with Industry-Leading Members

Unified Patents Launches Analog Semiconductor Protection Zone, Attracts Numerous Industry Leaders and Innovators.

This new zone brings together a fast-growing network of members to proactively reduce NPE activity in the Analog Semiconductor Sector in response to the increased NPE assertions focused on analog chips.

San Jose, Calif. – June 10, 2022 – Unified Patents LLC, the world’s only membership organization dedicated to deterring Non-Practicing Entity (NPE) activity, today announced the launch of its Analog Semiconductor Zone, which seeks to deter unsubstantiated or invalid patent assertions on technologies related to the ever-growing industry.

Semiconductor companies of all sizes are encouraged to apply for membership in the zone, with complimentary membership for small-sized businesses and scaled pricing based on revenue for larger organizations. Membership already includes numerous industry leaders. 

The Analog Semiconductor Zone comprises members that innovate in, among other things, microcontrollers, oscillators, diodes, communications-related chips, power ICs,  regulators, USB power, audio-related chips, and sensor-related chips.  Unified Patents’ latest zone accompanies its others, including cloud, content, IoT, mobile, retail, transactions, transport, cybersecurity, and networking. 

Over the last year, semiconductor and supply chain shortages have made headlines. Both have led to inflation and raised concerns about economic corrections. Chip shortages have been blamed for many of the supply chain issues, as they are necessary for so many different products now, from lightbulbs to automobiles. Though most would assume complex chips drive the shortages, in truth many of the supply chain issues are the result of analog chips. That, coupled with the relative ease of proving infringement and the ready availability of patents to license, has led NPEs to focus more resources on asserting against the analog industry. Click on the image below to review the data.

To put this issue in perspective, the top-20 plaintiffs—the frequent filers and notorious aggregators—account for nearly 60% of all analog semiconductor cases.

"As an independent third party, we continue to see great success in deterring patent trolls and killing bad patents” said Kevin Jakel, CEO at Unified Patents. “We are pleased that some of the largest companies in the industry are members of Unified Patents’ new Analog Semiconductor Zone, as this aids both large and small organizations in coming together to fight the sustained IP risk in the industry.  The rise and availability of litigation finance has only made that risk more pronounced. General counsel repeatedly praise Unified Patents’ work, which provides lasting value through powerful, ongoing NPE deterrence activities lauded by C-Level management and board members.”

The Analog Semiconductor Zone offers all semiconductor-related companies an opportunity to invest in an impactful and results-oriented organization. Unified Patents never pays any money to NPEs, whether to purchase licenses or otherwise. This ensures that Unified never incentivizes further NPE activity. By focusing on independent deterrence, Unified is never in the conflicted position of negotiating a licensing deal between NPEs and defendants in litigation. 

About Unified Patents

Founded in 2012, Unified Patents is an international membership organization that seeks to improve patent quality and deter unsubstantiated or invalid patent assertions in defined technology sectors (Zones) through its activities. As a deterrence entity, its actions focus on substantial assertions by Standards Essential Patents (SEP) holders and/or Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs). These actions may include analytics, prior art, invalidity contests, patentability analysis, administrative patent review (PTAB), amicus briefs, economic surveys, and essentiality studies. Unified works independently of its members to achieve its deterrence goals. Small members join for free, while larger organizations pay modest annual fees. Visit www.unifiedpatents.com.

Company Contact:

Unified Patents, LLC

Sasha Sokhis

VP, Head of Client Relations and Business Development 

sasha@unifiedpatents.com

$2,000 for Dynamic IP Deals entity Missed Call prior art

On June 27, 2022, a new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, was added seeking prior art on at least claim 1 of U.S. Patent 9,531,872. The patent is owned by Missed Call LLC, an NPE and Dynamic IP Deals entity. The '872 patent relates to a communication apparatus for providing an indication about a missed telephone call. It has been asserted against NEC, Twilio, TalkDesk, Mitel, and Freshworks.

The contest will expire on October 15, 2022. Please visit PATROLL for more information and to submit an entry for these contests.

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