Recent patent/copyright infringement cases filed in U.S. District Court

Marshall Division, Eastern District of Texas

Aug. 23

-Phoenix IP LLC vs. Emerson Electric Co. et al

Phoenix IP is a Texas limited liability corporation based in Marshall.

Phoenix claims it holds the rights to U.S. Patent No. 6,169,179 for "Computer Assisted Sales System for Utilities" issued Jan. 2, 2001, and USP No. 6,577,962 for "System and Method for Forecasting Energy Usage Load" issued June 10, 2003.

Phoenix filed a patent infringement suit against several defendants including Emerson Electric, ABB Inc., Power Measurement and Consolidated Edison on Aug. 23. A separate suit against Honeywell International was filed the same day for infringement of only the '962 Patent.

The plaintiff alleges the defendants infringe on its patents by offering energy management products and services, and that the infringement is willful.

"As a result of these defendants' infringement of the patents, Phoenix has suffered monetary damages in an amount not yet determined, and will continue to suffer damages in the future unless defendants' infringing activities are enjoined by this court," the original complaint states.

Phoenix is seeking a permanent injunction against the defendants, damages, costs and expenses, interest and attorney fees.

Eric Albritton of Longview is representing the plaintiff.

Both cases have been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.

Case No. 2:07-cv-00362-TJW and 2:07-cv-00363-TJW

Aug. 24

-GraphOn Corp. vs. AutoTrader.com Inc.

GraphOn alleges that AutoTrader.com infringes on two of its patents by offering vehicle listing services to customers and vehicle purchases on www.autotrader.com Web site.

GraphOn maintains it holds the rights to U.S. Patent Nos. 6,324,538, issued Nov. 27, 2002; and 6,850,940, issued Feb. 1, 2005. The patents are for "Automated On-Line Information Service and Directory, Particularly for the World Wide Web." The patents were assigned by inventors Ralph Wesinger Jr. and Christopher D. Coley to GraphOn on Aug. 24, 2007.

Auto Trader offers on its Web site a vehicle listing service to help its customers sell vehicles to buyers.

"AutoTrader.com infringement of GraphOn's exclusive rights under the patents-in-suit will continue to damage GraphOn's business, causing irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy of law, unless enjoined by this court," the original complaint states.

Because GraphOn believes AutoTrader's infringement has been willful it is entitled to increased damages and attorney fees. The plaintiff is seeking a permanent injunction, adequate compensation for the infringement , interest and other damages that the court may deem just and proper.

Robert Christopher Bunt of Parker, Bunt & Ainsworth PC in Tyler is representing the plaintiff.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.

Case No. 2:07-cv-00367-TJW

Aug. 27

-Polaris IP LLC vs. Google Inc. et al

Polaris IP, a Texas limited liability corporation in Marshall, has filed a copyright infringement complaint against several defendants including Google, Yahoo!, Amazon.com, Borders Inc., AOL and IAC Search and Media Inc. for activities and products that comprise interpreting electronic messages with rule base and case base knowledge engines.

Polaris claims it holds the rights to U.S. Patent No. 6,411,947 issued June 25, 2002, for "Automatic Message Interpretation and Routing System."

Among the defendants infringing products are Google Search, Google Ad Words, Google Ad Search, google.com, Yahoo Search Marketing, Amazon.com, Borders.com, AOL.com and Ask.com.

"As a result of these defendants' infringement of the patents, Polaris has suffered monetary damages in an amount not yet determined, and will continue to suffer damages in the future unless defendants' infringing activities are enjoined by this court," the original complaint states.

Polaris is seeking a permanent injunction, damages, interest and attorney fees.

Eric Albritton of Longview is representing the plaintiff.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.

Case No. 2:07-cv-00371-TJW-CE

Aug. 28

-GraphOn Corp. vs. Juniper Networks Inc.

GraphOn claims it holds the patent rights to three patents relating to firewall protection systems, including U.S. Patent No. 5,826,014 issued Oct. 20, 1998 for "Firewall System for Protecting Network Elements Connected to a Public Network."

The plaintiff alleges that Juniper Networks makes, uses and sells Hardware Security Client, Net Screen, SSG and ISG Series of firewall products in violation of the patents.

"Defendant's infringement of GraphOn's exclusive rights under the patents-in-suit will continue to damage GraphOn's business, causing irreparable harm for which there is no adequate remedy of law, unless enjoined by this court," the original complaint states.

GraphOn is seeking an injunction against Juniper as well as damages, interest and other relief that the court may deem just and proper.

S. Calvin Capshaw of Longview is representing the plaintiff.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.

Case No. 2:07-cv-00373-TJW-CE

-Affinion Net Patents Inc. vs. TSYS Loyalty Inc.

TSYS Loyalty operates Internet-based incentive programs for itself and its clients including bonuscheckcard.com, circlerewards.com, mibankrewards.com, mypurchaseperks.com, myselectpoints.com, plusonerewards.com, searschoicerewards.com and yourbankmiles.com.

Affinion has filed suit against TSYS for patent infringement, fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of contract.

In question are three patents for "Fully Integrated On-Line Interactive Frequency and Award Redemption Program" under U.S. Patent Nos. 5,774,870; 6,009,412; and 6,578,012.

Patents '870 and '412 were assigned to Netcentives Inc. while '012 was assigned to Trilegiant Corp.

In July 2000, Netcentives and TSYS, then named Enhancement Services Corp., entered into a license agreement whereby Netcentives granted TSYS a non-exclusive license to '870 and '412 as well as any patents issued from a continuation of the patents. Patent '012 was issued from a continuation of the '412 Patent.

The terms of the license are confidential.

TSYS and Netcentives considered the royalty terms set forth in the license to be a reasonable royalty.

On Dec. 7, 2001, Netcentives assigned the rights under '870 and '412, including rights to recover for past infringements, to Trilegiant Corp. All terms of the license transferred to Trilegiant remained in effect, including royalty terms.

On May 23, 2002, TSYS represented to Trilegiant that it was not operating and had not since Nov. 30, 2001, any on-line reward programs or other business covered by the '870 and '412 Patents. The original complaint states that TSYS made the representations in connection with a purported termination of the license agreement.

"Without Trilegiant's knowledge, TSYS did in fact operate on-line reward programs between Nov. 30, 2001, and May 23, 2002," the plaintiff's original complaint states. "These misrepresentations were deliberately false, deceptive and made with intent to mislead."

Therefore, the plaintiff claims, "TSYS purported termination of the license is void at the option of Affinion as a consequence of TSYS's false, deceptive and fraudulent misrepresentations and warranties."

Trilegiant assigned the '870, '012 and '412 Patents to Trilegiant Loyalty Solutions Inc. on Jan. 28, 2004. On April 17, 2007, Enhancement Services Corp. changed its name to TSYS Loyalty Inc.

For the patent infringement, Affinion is seeking an injunction and damages no less than a reasonable royalty.

The plaintiff claims that "TSYS knew it was false that Trilegiant Corp. was not operating on-line reward programs since Nov. 1, 2001."

For the fraudulent misrepresentation, Affinion is seeking "damages at least to put it where it would have been but for TSYS's fraudulent misrepresentation," and is also seeking punitive damages.

Affinion alleges that the license agreement is still in full force and effect and that TSYS has not made royalty payments under the agreement. For this breach of license, Affinion is seeking permanent injunction, no less than reasonable royalty, treble damages, punitive damages, attorney fees and other relief that the court may deem just and appropriate.

Jennifer Parker Ainsworth of Wilson, Robertson & Cornelius PC in Tyler is representing the plaintiff.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.

Case No. 2:07-cv-00374-TJW.

-Visto Corp. vs. Research In Motion Ltd. et al

According to the plaintiff's original complaint, Visto was established in 1996 and is a leading provider of personal and corporate wireless messaging solutions to mobile operators.

"Visto's inventions enable the deployment of a complete mobility solution which provides secure access to and synchronization of the most widely used personal information management data over any network and on a broad array of mobile devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones and the like," the complaint states. "Visto has expended considerable resources in inventing and developing its inventions and protecting its rights therein."

Visto claims it holds the rights to U.S. Patent Nos. 5,857,201, issued Jan. 5, 1999, and 6,324,542, issued Nov. 27, 2001, for "Enterprise Connectivity to Handheld Devices."

The complaint alleges that "RIM provides products and services that enable access to and synchronization of data in secure network environments including Blackberry."

"RIM's acts have caused, and unless restrained and enjoined, will continue to cause irreparable damage to Visto for which Visto has no adequate remedy at law, and unless preliminarily and permanently enjoined by this court RIM will continue to infringe on the '201 and '542 Patents," the suit says.

Visto is seeking enjoinment, destruction of infringing products, reasonable royalties, an accounting for damages, attorney fees, enhanced damages and other relief that the court may deem just and proper.

Sam F. Baxer of McKool Smith PC of Marshall is representing Visto.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.

Case No. 2:07-cv-00375-TJW-CE

-Mediostream Inc. vs. Acer America Corp. et al

California-based Mediostream Inc. has flied suit against Acer America, Apple Computers Inc., Dell Inc. and Gateway Inc. for infringement of U.S. Patent No. 7,009,655-B2.

The '655 Patent for "Method and System for Direct Recording of Video Information onto a Disk Medium" was assigned to Mediastream on March 7, 2006, by inventor Qiang Huang.

Mediostream alleges that the defendants infringe on the patent by engaging in commercial activities relating to the manufacture, development, sale and import of a variety of products. Those products include, but are not limited to, Acer PC Notebook computers, Acer PC desktop computers, PC tablets, Apple Mac Pro, Mini Mac, Mac Book, Mac Book Pro, iMac, Dell Notebook PC, Dell desktop PC, Precision Workstations, consumer desktop systems, Gateway PC desktops, PC notebooks and others.

"Mediostream has been damaged by the infringement and will continue to be damaged unless enjoined by this court," the original complaint states.

The plaintiff is seeking damages, interest, attorney fees and other relief deemed just and proper by the court.

S. Calvin Capshaw of Brown McCarroll LLP in Longview is representing the plaintiff.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.

Case No. 2:07-cv-00376-TJW

Texarkana Division, Eastern District of Texas

Aug. 23

-Constellation IP LLC vs. Allstate Corp. et al

Constellation IP, a Texas limited liability corporation, has named 29 defendants in a suit that alleges the companies infringed on U.S. Patent No. 6,453,302, issued Sept. 17, 2002, for "Computer Generated Presentation System."

Among defendants are Allstate Corp., Capital One Financial Corp., Continental Airlines, Hilton Hotels, Hampton Inns, Doubletree Hotels, Conrad Hotels, Countrywide Financial, Southwest Airline, Blockbuster Inc., Netflix Inc., TD Ameritrade, Match.com, Fidelity Brokerage Services and FMR Corp.

Constellation claims the defendants 'infringing activities are practiced on various Web sites and that the infringements are willful.

The plaintiff is seeking monetary damages yet to be determined, a permanent injunction against the defendants, damages, attorney fees and "other relief to which Constellation may show itself to be entitled."

Eric Albritton of Longview is representing the plaintiff.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge David Folsom.

Case No. 5:07-cv-00132-DF

Tyler Division, Eastern District of Texas

Aug. 22

-Dexas International Ltd. vs. OfficeMax Inc.

Dexas has filed a patent infringement suit against OfficeMax for several design patents. The U.S. Letters Patent Design No. 475,748 for an ornamental design titled "Clipcase" was issued to Ellis N. Shamoon on June 10, 2003. Other design patents were issued to Shamoon for "Slim Case" and "Document Case."

Dexas alleges that OfficeMax infringes on the design patents through products including "Slim Mate," "Desk Mate II," "Work Mate" and "Work Mate II."

The plaintiff is asking that the defendant be enjoined by the court and that Dexas be awarded any profits, treble damages, attorney fees and interest.

Paul V. Storm of Storm LLP in Dallas is representing the plaintiff.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.

Case No. 6:07-cv-00396-LED

Lufkin Division, Eastern District of Texas

Aug. 27

-Cummins-Allison Corp. vs. Shinwoo Information & Telecommunications Co. and Amro-Asian Trade Inc.

According to the plaintiff's original complaint, the case is an action to stop Shinwoo's and Amro's unauthorized and infringing sale, use and importation of products incorporating Cummins' patented U.S. currency denominating and counting inventions.

Cummins claims it is the leader in the design and manufacture of devices and methods for discriminating among currency bills of different denominations which involves technology used to rapidly and automatically denominate stacks of U.S. currency bills.

"Cummins' patented technology is used by many banks and stores to process the currency they handle," the complaint states. "Cummins has invested millions of dollars in developing the technology covered by its patents."

One of the patents in question is U.S. Patent No. 6,459,806 for "Method and Apparatus for Currency Discrimination and Counting" issued Oct. 1, 2002.

The complaint claims that Shinwoo and Amro manufacture and sell U.S. currency denominating devices designated the SB-100.

"Cummins is likely to be irreparably harmed by Shinwoo's and Amro's aforementioned infringement of the '806 Patent," the complaint states. "Cummins has no adequate remedy at law."

The plaintiff is asking that the defendants be permanently enjoined from infringing activities and that Cummins be awarded damages and that those damages by increased by three times.

Clyde Siebman of Siebman Reynolds Burg & Phillips LLP in Sherman is representing the plaintiff.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.

Case No. 9:07-ccv-00196-RHC