$3,000 for Jeffrey M. Gross entity Context Directions detection patent prior art

A new PATROLL contest, with a $3,000 cash prize, was added seeking prior art on at least claim 3 of U.S. Patent 9,807,564, owned by Context Directions LLC, a Jeffrey M. Gross entity. The ‘564 patent generally relates to a method for detecting context of a mobile device, and to a mobile device having a context detection module, especially to detect that the mobile device is located in a moving vehicle. The patent had been asserted over 10 times but most recently against Fox Rent-A-Car, Avis, and Enterprise Rent-A-Center.

The contest will expire on October 31, 2023. Please visit PATROLL for more information and to submit an entry for this contest.

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B.S.D Crown streaming video patent challenged

On September 1, 2023, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 6,389,473, owned and asserted by B.S.D Crown Ltd. (f/k/a Emblaze Ltd.), an NPE. The ‘473 patent relates to streaming video over the Internet. The patent is being asserted against Amazon.

View district court litigations by B.S.D. Crown (f/k/a Emblaze Ltd.). Unified is represented by Nick Apel and Eric Buresh of Erise IP, and by in-house counsel, Jessica L.A. Marks and Michelle Aspen.

$2,000 for Songbird Tech audio patent prior art

A new PATROLL contest, with a $2,000 cash prize, was added seeking prior art on at least claim 10 of U.S. Patent 8,825,787, owned by Songbird Tech, LLC, an NPE. The ‘787 patent relates to an audio message-driven customer interaction queuing system for any public web page to allow web page visitors to utter questions into a browser-resident recorder application. It has been asserted against Samsung.

The contest will expire on October 31, 2023. Please visit PATROLL for more information and to submit an entry for this contest.

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Unified is Hiring: New full-time Senior Patent Counsel position

Senior Patent Counsel - Click HERE to apply

Unified is again growing its legal department and seeks to add another experienced, registered patent attorney to the team to prosecute and litigate matters in-house. Pay is competitive and counsel will have flexible hours and may work remotely. Ideal applicants should be historically underrepresented in the patent field, and should generally have at least five years of firm or other relevant experience practicing before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) working on post-grant petitions (IPR, PGR, and CBM), reexaminations, or other administrative drafting and litigation experience. Deposition and oral hearing experience are preferred.

Applicants should have a strong technical background and be willing to explore diverse new technologies; experience with video codecs, coding, cryptography, compression, signals, wireless communications, or other algorithmic subject matter is a plus. Patent examination experience is a plus; a registration number is a plus; clerking experience is a plus; familiarity with ongoing appellate issues affecting PTAB practice is a plus.

Patent Trolls Will Prey on SMEs if USPTO Proposals Proceed

Blog post originally published on August 30, 2023, by Patent Progress, written by Unified’s Co-Founder & COO, Shawn Ambwani.

USPTO’s proposed restrictions on validity review would hurt SMEs by limiting independent third parties interested in deterring patent trolls’ use of invalid patents. Unified's Shawn Ambwani provides third-party examples that have successfully challenged especially egregious patent trolls which would no longer be allowed if ANPRM proposals or the PREVAIL Act are enacted. Patent trolls will be more aggressive, more profitable, and more rampant, imposing what amounts to a legal tax on economic growth and innovation, especially against SMEs who do not have the financial resources to fight.

Continue reading this blog piece published on Patent Progress HERE.