Marshall Division
Oct. 27
Plaintiffs David Byrd, of Round Rock, Texas, and Andrew Katrinecz, of Shalimar, Fla., claim to own the rights to U.S. Patent No. 6,199,996 issued March 13, 2001, and No. 7,248,872 issued Oct. 23, 2007.
The '996 and '872 Patents are for Low Power, Low Cost Illuminated Keyboards and Keypads.
The plaintiffs allege that defendants Willway Investments, doing business as Logisys Computer Inc., and Shenzhen Weijan Electronics Co. Ltd. are infringing the '996 and '872 Patents.
"Defendants' infringement … has injured plaintiffs, and plaintiffs are entitled to recover damages adequate to compensate it for defendants' infringement, which in no even can be less than a reasonable royalty," the original complaint states.
According to the complaint, the defendants' infringements have been willful and deliberate.
Plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief, compensatory damages, treble damages, attorneys' fees, costs, interest and other relief.
Michael Smith of Siebman, Reynolds, Burg, Phillips & Smith LLP in Marshall and attorneys from Taylor, Dunham & Burgess LLP in Austin are representing the plaintiffs.
The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward and has been referred to Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham.
Case No. 2:08-cv-414-TJW-CE
Plaintiffs Aerielle Technologies Inc. and Aerielle Inc., from Mountain View, Calif., design consumer electronics including wireless accessories for portable mobile audio devices such as iPod, MP3/4 players and related products.
Aerielle claims it owns the rights to U.S. Patent No. 6,671,494 issued Dec. 30, 2003, and U.S. Patent No. 5,771,441 issued June 23, 1998. The patents are for a Small, Battery Operated RF Transmitter for Portable Audio Devices for Use with Headphones with RF Receiver.
The plaintiffs claim defendants Macally Peripherals Inc. and Mace Group Inc. doing business as Macally USA have infringed the '494 and '441 Patents, and that allege that the infringements have been willful, deliberate and intentional.
Aerielle seeks to recover damages adequate to compensate it for Macally's infringement, in an amount no less than a reasonable royalty. Aerielle is asking the court for a permanent injunction against Macally and is seeking treble damages, interest, attorneys' fees and other relief.
Michael C. Smith of Siebman, Reynolds, Burg, Phillips & Smith LLP in Marshall is representing the plaintiff along with attorneys from Taylor, Dunham & Burgess LLP in Austin.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:08-cv-415-TJW
Tyler Division
Oct. 27
Plaintiff ReedHycalog UK is a United Kingdom corporation with its principal place of business in Stonehouse, England. Plaintiff ReedHycalog LP is a Delaware limited partnership with its principal place of business in Houston.
According to the complaint, ReedHycalog is the owner by assignment of 11 U.S. patents dealing with development and making of polycrystalline diamonds partially depleted of catalyzing materials.
Defendant United Diamond LP is a Canadian limited partnership with places of business in Houston and Odessa. UDLP manufactures fixed cutter, or so-called "drag," rotary bits as well as "roller cone" rotary drill bits and provides drilling-related products and services.
The complaint states that within the six years prior to the filing of the suit, UDLP has manufactured fixed cutter drill bits that employ partially leached polycrystalline diamond cutters having a diamond table in which at least a portion of the catalyzing material has been removed from a first region of the diamond table while the catalyzing material is present in another second region of the diamond table.
Plaintiffs allege that UDLP has infringed the patents-in-suit.
"UDLP's infringement of plaintiffs' rights under the patents will continue to damage plaintiffs' business, causing irreparable harm, for which there is no adequate remedy at law, unless UDLP is enjoined by this court," the complaint states.
ReedHycalog is seeking an accounting of all damages sustained as the result of the acts of infringement, a permanent injunction, actual damages, enhanced damages, interest, costs, attorneys' fees and other just and proper relief.
Mike Amerson of Williams, Morgan & Amerson PC in Houston is representing the plaintiff, along with Calvin Capshaw of Capshaw DeRieux LLP in Longview and T. John Ward Jr. of Ward & Smith Law Firm in Longview.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.
Case No. 6:08-cv-413-LED
Oct. 28
Plaintiff Acceleron, a Delaware limited liability company with a principal place of business in Tyler, claims to own the rights to U.S. Patent No. 6,948,021 issued Sept. 20, 2005 for a Cluster Component Network Appliance System and Method for Enhancing Fault Tolerance and Hot-Swapping.
Acceleron alleges that 10 companies named as defendants have infringed the '021 Patent. The defendants in the suit are Egenera, Fujitsu-Siemens Computers, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, International Business Machines, NEC Corp., Rackable Systems, Silicon Mechanics, Sun Micrsosystems and SuperMicro Computer.
Allegedly infringing blade server systems include the BladeFrame, Primergy, HP Blade System, IBM Blade Center, Intel Blade Server System, Rackable ST2000, Bladeform 5100, SunBlade 8000 and Altix.
Acceleron is seeking injunctive relief, compensatory damages, attorneys' fees, interest and other just and proper relief.
Jason Cook of Alston Bird LLP in Dallas is lead counsel for the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.
Case No. 6:08-cv-417-LED
Lufkin Division
Oct. 26
According to the complaint, Sanofi-Aventis is a leading international pharmaceutical company that "strives to meet a wide array of healthcare needs through innovative products." The company focuses on cardiology, oncology and internal medicine as well as metabolic diseases, central nervous system disorders and vaccines.
The plaintiff claims it owns the rights to U.S. Patent No. 5,849,522, issued Dec. 15, 1998, and U.S. Patent No. 6,218,140, issued April 17, 2001. The patents pertain to nucleic acid enhancers for cellular expression systems useful for producing drugs and antibodies for human therapy.
Defendants Genentech and Biogen make or commercialize multiple biotherapeutics for medical conditions in the areas of oncology, immunology and disorders of tissue growth and repair.
According to the complaint, the defendants infringe the '522 and '140 patents through products including Herceptin, Rituxan, Raptiva, Xolair, Activase, Cathflo Activase, Pulmozyme and TNKase.
Because of the alleged infringement, the plaintiff claims to be irreparably harmed and has no adequate remedy at law. In addition, the plaintiff alleges that the infringement is reckless, egregious and willful.
Sanofi-Aventis is seeking injunctive relief, compensatory damages no less than reasonable royalty, treble damages, attorneys' fees, costs, interest and other just relief.
Lawrence Germer and Mitch Smith of Germer Gertz LLP in Beaumont are representing the plaintiff. Attorneys from McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP in Chicago are of counsel.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.
Case No. 9:08-cv-203-RC