$2,000 for Jeffrey M. Gross entity Lightning Fitness sensor patent prior art

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 9,818,285, owned by Lightning Fitness Systems, LLC, an NPE and Jeffrey M. Gross entity. The ‘285 patent relates to methods and apparatuses for facilitating learning and multitasking through movement. It encompasses devices that collect sensory input such as audio, visual, and tactile information related to a user's actions and provide feedback. The patent has been asserted against Precor Incorporated.

The contest will expire on March 19, 2024. Please visit PATROLL for more information and to submit an entry for this contest.

IV's PTAB rehearing request denied

On January 16, 2024, Intellectual Ventures’s request for rehearing of IPR2022-00429 was denied by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). The IPR was filed against U.S. Patent 9,291,475 on February 10, 2022, was instituted on August 11, 2022, and received a final written decision holding all claims invalid on February 9, 2023. The ’475 patent relates to alerting a recipient regarding a violation of a vehicle, such as a speeding violation, and had been asserted in district court against Toyota, GM, and Honda.

View district court litigations by Intellectual Ventures. To read the petition and view the case record, see Unified’s Portal. Unified was represented by in-house counsel, Alyssa Holtslander, Roshan Mansinghani, and Michelle Aspen.

$2,000 for inventor-owned, Jaffe '828, image patent prior art

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 6,757,828, owned by inventor, Jonathan E. Jaffe. The present invention relates to an improved method and system for authenticating images captured by digital cameras. The main aspect of the invention is the creation of a digital signature that ensures the authenticity of images by linking them to specific parameters and/or environmental factors. The patent has been asserted against Adobe and TruePic.

The contest will expire on March 8, 2024. Please visit PATROLL for more information and to submit an entry for this contest.

IP Investments Group entity DigiMedia H.264/AVC patent held invalid

On January 12, 2024, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision in Unified Patents, LLC v. DigiMedia Tech LLC, holding one challenged claim of U.S. Patent 6,473,532 unpatentable, and that another challenged claim could not be ruled on due to an antecedent basis issue (i.e., likely rendering that claim indefinite, or if not, unpatentable; see pp. 36-41 of the decision). Owned and asserted by DigiMedia Tech, 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. The patent had been asserted against ViacomCBS, Lenovo, Panasonic, and OnePlus, and is currently being asserted against TCT Mobile and Xiaomi.

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 (now at Greenberg Traurig) and William Neer at Finnegan, and by in-house counsel, David Seastrunk and Roshan Mansinghani, in this proceeding.

Fractus LTE antenna patent challenge instituted

On January 10, 2024, three months after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 11,349,200, owned and asserted by Fractus S.A., an NPE. The ‘200 patent generally relates to a wireless device that includes an antenna system that has a level of complexity above a certain threshold. The patent has been asserted against ADT and Vivint.

View district court litigations by Fractus. Unified is represented by Chris Coulson at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, and by in-house counsel, T.J. Murphy and Alyssa Holtslander.

To view the reexamination request, visit Unified’s Portal: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/exparte/90019275