Marshall Division
Feb. 17
Plaintiff Datatern, a Texas corporation, claims it is the owner by assignment of U.S. Patent No. 5,937,402 issued Aug. 10, 1999, for a System for Enabling Access to a Relational Database from an Object Oriented Program.
Datatern alleges that 10 corporations are infringing the '402 Patent. The defendant companies are United Airlines, UAL Corp., American Airlines, AMR Corp., American Express, Discover Financial Services, Hertz Corp., Avis Budget Group, Wells Fargo & Co. and Wells Fargo Bank NA.
Defendants have been and are infringing the '402 Patent by methods practiced on their Web sites "through its uses of object oriented source code to employ objects that are populated with information from a relational database (due to the fact that such objects are populated from a relational database, objects are associated with object classes generated in response to a normalized relational schema object, which is a representation of a logical table from a database) covered by one or more claims of the '402 Patent to the injury of Datatern," the original complaint explains.
Datatern is seeking a permanent injunction against defendants, compensatory and enhanced damages, costs, expenses, interest, attorneys' fees and other relief to which it may be entitled.
Marc A. Fenster of Russ, August & Kabat in Los Angeles, Calif.; Patrick R. Anderson of Flint, Mich.; and Andrew Spangler of Spangler Law PC in Longview are representing the plaintiff.
The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward and referred to Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham for pre-trial proceedings.
Case No. 2:09-cv-053-TJW-CE
Tyler Division
Feb. 13
Plaintiff Wall Wireless is a Texas limited liability company with its principal place of business in Plano. Wall Wireless claims it owns the rights to U.S. Patent No. 6,640,086 issued Oct. 28, 2003, for a Method and Apparatus for Creating and Distributing Real-Time Interactive Media Content Through Wireless Communication Networks and the Internet. Corbett Wall is named as the inventor.
The plaintiff alleges that as early as October 2008, each defendant received actual notice of the '086 Patent, and that the defendants failed to take a license under the patent.
Defendants, which include Nintendo, Sony and Nokia and their affiliated companies, have allegedly infringed the '806 Patent by making, using or selling handheld WiFi devices and multiplayer real-time games. Products include Nintendo DS, Mario Kart, Playstation Portable, Wipeout Pulse, Nokia N81, Nokia 82, Nokia N93, Nokia N95 and Reset Generation.
"As a result of defendants' infringement of the '086 Patent, Wall Wireless has suffered monetary damages that are compensable … by no less than a reasonable royalty," the complaint states.
Wall Wireless is seeking injunctive relief, compensatory damages, interest, costs, expenses, attorneys' fees and other relief to which it may be entitled.
Brett C. Govett of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP in Dallas is lead attorney for the plaintiff. T. John Ward Jr. of Ward & Smith Law Firm in Longview and Otis W. Carroll of Ireland, Carroll & Kelley PC in Tyler are also representing the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.
Case No. 6:09-cv-064