Patent Risk Digest

February 2018

A monthly update on market activity, legal developments, and policy related to patent litigation
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Over 50 New Suits Filed in January Seeking Past Damages for Expired Patents

The litigation campaign of PersonalWeb Technologies, L.L.C., which began in 2011, sprang back to life in January 2018 with the filing of more 50 new cases against a broad range of defendants. The new complaints seek past damages for the alleged infringement of five expired patents already at issue throughout the campaign. Infringement allegations focus on the manner in which the defendants’ websites distribute and serve web content in light of what content has been updated.

The companies brought into the PersonalWeb campaign in January encompass multiple industries, including social media (IAC Interactive (Match Group), Advance Publications (Reddit), FanDuel); E-commerce (Airbnb, SmugMug, Stitch Fix, Wedding Wire); financial services (PayPal (Venmo), Square); media (Fandor, PopSugar); and software (Salesforce (Heroku), Atlassian), among others (Bitly, GoPro, Spokeo). Past campaign defendants include Alphabet (Google), Apple, Facebook, GitHub, IBM, Microsoft, NEC, NetApp, and Yahoo. (Amazon recently filed a complaint for declaratory judgment against PersonalWeb, arguing that a lawsuit against it—filed by PersonalWeb in 2011 and dismissed with prejudice in 2014—acts as a final judgment on the merits, barring suits against Amazon customers over their use of Amazon Simple Storage System (S3).)

PersonalWeb has achieved multiple settlements over the years, and on its website, PersonalWeb identifies the following campaign defendants as licensees of its patent portfolio: Autonomy, Caringo, GitHub, HP, IBM, Nexsan, Microsoft, NEC, and Yahoo, as well as the following companies: Audible Magic, Centergate Research Group, Connected Corporation, GUBA, Internet Gig.com, Iron Mountain, LimeWire, Media Sentry, Overpeer, Sharman Networks, Skype, and StreamCast Networks.

MyMail Tags Long Lists of Wi-Fi-Enabled Devices in New Complaints

January 2018 saw MyMail, Ltd. add four more cases to the litigation campaign it launched back in 2004, asserting in new complaints a familiar network connectivity patent against a wide variety of Wi-Fi-enabled devices, including connected cameras and printers, laptops, smartphones, and tablets. The newest defendants—Canon, HP, Lenovo, and Samsung—join active campaign defendants Acer, NETGEAR, and TCL Communications (TCT Mobile US), bringing MyMail’s total defendant count to over 30.

Past campaign defendants include AOL, Duck Duck Go, ESPN, Honeywell, Huawei, Konica Minolta, Lexmark, Nasdaq, Nikon, Oracle, Panasonic, Pantech, Ricoh, Verizon (Yahoo Holdings), and ZTE. According to court filings, multiple defendants have settled with MyMail.

Two Prolific Patent Plaintiffs Gear Up for a Busy 2018

Two of last year’s most prolific patent plaintiffs—Monument Patent Holdings, LLC and IP Valuation Partners LLC—collectively formed at least nine new entities in Texas in January. The former also picked up a family of patents during the month. These activities suggest that Monument and IP Valuation Partners (IPVal) will soon be launching new litigation campaigns.

On January 24, Portal Communications, LLC received a family of four patents and a related application from software developer The Intellection Group Inc.; the assignment was recorded on January 29. The transacted assets generally relate to constructing a search query based on voice input and location data.

Portal Communications was formed in Texas in April 2017 with Monument Patent Holdings, LLC, the litigating affiliate of Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC, as its manager. It has not filed any patent litigation as of the publication date of this report; however, Monument’s past practices suggest that the NPE’s first campaign is likely forthcoming.

Monument Patent Holdings was among the top five NPEs (non-practicing entities) in 2017—bringing over 90 defendants into new litigation during the year—and is showing no signs of slowing down. In January alone, it formed at least four new entities, all in Texas: Liberty Peak Ventures, LLC; Principle Packaging LLC; Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC; and Vista Peak Ventures LLC.

January also saw IPVal, the fifth most active NPE last year, also form five new affiliates in Texas: Caladan IP Holdings LLC; Chapterhouse LLC; Errol LLC; Flectere LLC; and Phaleron LLC. IPVal initiated over 15 new litigation campaigns in 2017 alone, and has filed more than 140 patent lawsuits to date.