Marshall Division
Dec. 19
Houston-based Halliburton claims to own the rights to two U.S. patents dealing with fracturing services for use in shale oil and gas operations.
U.S. Patent No. 5,765,642 was issued June 16, 1998, for Subterranean Formation Fracturing Methods. U.S. Patent No. 7,225,869 was issued June 5, 2007, for Methods of Isolating Hydrajet Stimulated Zones.
Halliburton alleges that another Texas company, BJ Services, is infringing the '642 and '869 patents by selling and providing subterranean fracturing systems including those under the brand name "OptiFrac."
The plaintiff is seeking injunctive relief, actual damages, interest, attorneys' fees, compulsory royalties in the alternative and other just and equitable relief.
Sam Baxter of McKool Smith PC in Marshall is lead attorney for Halliburton.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:08-cv-475-TJW
Dec. 29
Plaintiff BTG International claims to own the rights to four patents dealing generally with consumer electronics products containing MLC flash memory chips.
The patents-in-suit are:
-U.S. Patent No. 5,764,571 issued June 9, 1998, for an Electronically Alterable Non-Volatile Memory with N-Bits Per Cell
-U.S. Patent No. 5,872,735 issued Feb. 16, 1999, for an Electronically Alterable Non-Volatile Memory with N-Bits Per Cell
-U.S. Patent No. 6,104,640 issued Aug. 15, 2000, Electronically Alterable Non-Volatile Memory with N-Bits Per Cell
-U.S. Patent No. 6,118,692 issued Sept. 12, 2000, for a Memory Apparatus Including Programmable Non-Volatile Multi-Bit Memory Cell
BTG alleges Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Samsung Electronics America Inc., Samsung Telecommunications America LLC, Samsung Semiconductor Inc and Samsung Austin Semiconductor LLC are infringing the patents-in-suit.
Some of the allegedly infringing products named in the complaint are Samsung MP3 audio products, digital camcorders, mobile phones and solid state drives.
BTG claims it has been irreparably harmed by Samsung's acts of infringement.
The plaintiff is seeking compensatory and treble damages, interest, costs, attorneys' fees and other just and equitable relief.
Mike McKool Jr. of McKool Smith PC in Dallas is lead attorney for the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:08-cv-482-TJW
Dec. 30
Marshall-based IPAT claims to own the rights to U.S. Patent No. 5,311,591 and U.S. Patent No. 5,412,717. The patents deal generally with computer system security methods and products using program authorization information data structures.
IPAT alleges defendants Symantec, Microsoft, AVG Technologies, Check Point Software, Comodo Group, ESET, F-Secure, Iolo Technologies, Kaspersky Lab, McAfee, Mircoworld, Netveda, Norman Data, Novell, PC Tools, PWI, Sophos, Sunbelt, Trend Micro, Velocity Micro and Webroot are infringing the '591 and '717 Patents.
"Each defendants' activities have been without authority or license from IPAT," the complaint states. "IPAT is entitled to recover from the defendants the damages sustained by IPAT as a result of the defendants' wrongful acts in an amount subject to proof at trial, which by law cannot be less than a reasonable royalty, together with interest and costs."
IPAT alleges one or more of the defendants' acts of infringement have been willful, so the plaintiff is seeking treble damages as well as attorneys' fees and other just and proper relief.
Sam Baxter of McKool Smith PC in Marshall is lead attorney for the plaintiff with attorneys from The Davis Firm in Longview and Ward & Olivio in New York.
The case has been assigned to Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham.
Case No. 2:08-cv-484-TJW-CE
Dec. 31
Plaintiff Data Drive Thru is a Texas corporation with its principal place of business in Dallas. The plaintiff claims to own the rights to U.S. Patent No. 7,108,191 issued Sept. 19, 2006, for Intelligent Computer Cabling.
The '191 Patent deals with a USB device adapted for facilitating the transfer of data between two electronic data processing devices through the automatic loading and executing of software on each EDP device.
Data Drive Thru alleges defendants Radioshack, Targus, Samsung Electronics America and Acco Brands are infringing the '191 Patent by selling data transfer products.
The plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages no less than a reasonable royalty, injunctive relief, interest, attorneys' fees, costs and other just and proper relief.
Edward W. Goldstein of Goldstein, Faucett & Prebeg LLP in Houston is representing the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:08-cv-485-TJW
Jan. 6
Plaintiffs Andrew Katrinecz and David Byrd are individuals residing in Round Rock, Texas, and Shalimar, Fla., respectively. Together they own the rights to U.S. Patent Nos. 6,199,996 and 7,284,872 dealing with low power, low cost illuminated keyboards and keypads.
The plaintiffs allege defendant Behavior Tech Computer is infringing the '996 and '872 patents. They also allege the infringement has been willful and intentional.
Plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief, compensatory and treble damages, interest, attorneys' fees and other relief to which they may be entitled.
Michael C. Smith of Siebman, Reynolds, Burg, Phillips & Smith LLP in Marshall is representing the plaintiffs.
The case was assigned to U.S. Judge T. John Ward and was referred to Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham.
Case No. 2:09-cv-004-TJW-CE