Activemap interactive maps patents prior art found

The team at Unified used Pearl to successfully identify and chart prior art against U.S. Patent 8,468,464, U.S. Patent 10,444,943, and U.S. Patent 10,908,782 owned by Activemap, LLC, an NPE. The patents relate to interactive mapping ecosystem on retailer websites. The patents have been asserted against Nordstrom, National Vision, Lowe’s, The Gap, Petco, The Children’s Place, The Tile Shop, Compass, Chanel, Half Price Books, Lucky OpCo, and Luxottica.

Identified Prior Art on U.S. Patent 8,468,464 (click to download chart)

• WO 2000041090

Identified Prior Art on U.S. Patent 10,444,943 (click to download chart)

• US 20030033247

• US 5948040

Identified Prior Art on U.S. Patent 10,908,782 (click to download chart)

• US 5852810

• CA 2280677

ITC Funding Disclosure Proposal Could Reshape Patent Litigation Strategy

The US International Trade Commission’s proposed rule requiring disclosure of third-party litigation funding in Section 337 investigations is intensifying scrutiny of who finances patent disputes and how those relationships influence enforcement strategy. The proposal would require complainants to disclose funders, ownership interests, and entities with control over litigation or settlement decisions, with the ITC arguing the changes would improve transparency, identify conflicts of interest, and clarify who truly stands behind patent assertions.

Many practitioners support the proposal, arguing that disclosure could expose hidden ownership structures, foreign involvement, and repeat litigation tactics often associated with non-practicing entities (NPEs). Jonathan Stroud, COO & CLO of Unified Patents, emphasized that transparency aligns with the ITC’s statutory purpose, stating: “Built into the statute is already this sense of, hey, we need to know who’s filing this and who we’re protecting.” Stroud also argued that opaque structures can complicate settlements and enable repeated litigation through subsidiaries and portfolio transfers.

Read the full article posted from MLex here: https://www.mlex.com/mlex/intellectual-property/articles/2477467/proposed-itc-transparency-rule-puts-litigation-funders-under-new-scrutiny

Unified #1 in Reexamination Filings and Success

Unified Patents ranks #1 in total filings and success. #2 in Success was Ropes & Gray, followed by Plumsea Law Group based on major reexam filers targeting utility patents over the previous 5 years.

By leveraging expanded and deeper metadata in our newly-revamped reexam portal users can conduct advanced research. Our data includes claim-level analytics and entities such as requestors, requestor law firms, and lawyers with registration numbers. We've also integrated litigation data to show copending litigations, and all of the new metadata is filterable and exportable.

Click HERE to see Unified’s newly annotated reexamination metadata.

$2,000 awarded for ContactWave messaging patent prior art

Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Umesh Kumar, who was awarded $2,000 for his prior art submission on U.S. Patent 9,531,665, owned by ContactWave LLC, an NPE and entity of Jeffrey M. Gross. The '665 patent relates to the management and transmission of contact information from web pages directly to mobile communication devices. It has been asserted against Spotify.

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

• US 20020164977

• US 7305442

• US 20020161640

$2,000 awarded for Oso IP entity, Aloft Media, hyperlink patent prior art

Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Umesh Kumar, who was awarded $2,000 for his prior art submission on claim 23 of U.S. Patent 10,372,793, owned by Aloft Media, LLC, an NPE and entity of Oso IP, LLC. The '793 patent relates to computer-implemented techniques for improving the usefulness of hyperlinks in web pages. The patent has been in several complaints seeking declaratory judgments of non-infringement, invalidity, and unenforceability filed by Nouryon USA and Krueger International.

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

• US 5742768

• US 20040027391

• US 20050235203