Tyler Division, Eastern District of Texas
Feb. 27
Plaintiff Balsam Coffee Solutions is a Canadian corporation with a place of business in Tyler, Texas. Balsam claims it owns the rights to U.S. Patent No. 6,861,086 issued March 1, 2005, for a Method of Processing Roasted Coffee.
According to the complaint, the inventors named on the '086 Patent are Robert Buckingham and Willem Anker.
Balsam alleges that Folgers, J.M. Smucker, Kraft and Melitta have infringed the '086 Patent.
"Defendants' acts of infringement have caused damage to Balsam," the complaint states. "Balsam is entitled to recover from Defendants the damages sustained by Balsam as a result of Defendants' wrongful acts in an amount subject to proof at trial."
Balsam also alleges the defendants' infringements have been willful and deliberate, entitling Balsam to enhanced damages and attorneys' fees.
The plaintiff is seeking injunctive relief, compensatory and enhanced damages, interest and other just and proper relief.
Sam Baxter of McKool Smith PC in Marshall is lead attorney for the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.
Case No. 6:09-cv-089-LED
Plaintiff Clear With Computers LLC, formerly known as Orion IP LLC, is a Texas limited liability company with its principal place of business in Marshall.
CWC claims to own the rights to two U.S. patents relating to computerized proposal and sales methods.
U.S. Patent No. 5,615,342 was issued March 25, 1997, for an Electronic Proposal Preparation System. Jerome D. Johnson is listed as the inventor of the '342 Patent. The '342 Patent was the subject of previous Markman rulings issued in the Eastern District of Texas.
U.S. Patent No. 5,536,627 was issued Nov. 22, 1994, for a Computer-Assisted Parts Sales Method. Jerome D. Johnson is listed as the inventor of the '627 Patent. The '627 Patent was the subject of previous Markman rulings issued in the Eastern District of Texas.
According to the original complaint, CWC alleges 47 companies are infringing the '342 and '627 Patents through various Web sites making and using supply chain methods, sales methods, sales systems, marketing methods, marketing systems and inventory systems.
The defendants include a wide variety of companies in the furniture, clothing and accessories business, retailers, boat makers, aircraft companies and appliances manufacturers.
Defendant companies include:
Bassett Furniture Industries
Bell Helicopter
The Boeing Co.
Boston Whaler
Broyhill Furniture Industries
Brunswick
Cabela's
Carrier Corp.
Crutchfield
Ebay
Epson
General Dynamics
Halliburton
Hasbro
HSN Inc.
J. Jill
Otis Elevators
Pitney Bowes
Polo Ralph Lauren
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne
QVC
Rolex
Sea Ray Boats
Seiko
Sikorsky Aircraft
Sub-Zero
Talbots
Tommy Hilfiger
United Technologies
UTC Power
Wolf Appliance
CWC is seeking injunctive relief, compensatory damages, interest, expenses, enhanced damages, attorneys' fees and other relief to which it may be entitled.
Andrew Spangler of Spangler Law PC in Marshall is lead attorney for the plaintiff. David Pridham of Barrington, R.I., and John J. Edmonds of Houston are also representing CWC.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.
Case No. 6:09-cv-095
March 3
Plaintiff Software Tree claims to be the owner of all rights to U.S. Patent No. 6, 163,776 issued Dec. 19, 2000, for a System and Method for Exchanging Data and Commands Between an Object Oriented System and Relational System.
A reexamination declaring that the '776 Patent is valid and enforceable was issued April 8, 2008, according to the complaint.
The plaintiff alleges that four companies are infringing the '776 Patent.
Defendant Red Hat Inc. allegedly infringes the '776 Patent through its JBoss suite of software products such as the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform which includes a critical component known as Hibernate.
Software Tree claims Red Hat had actual knowledge of the '776 Patent by another third-party patent infringement lawsuit involving the relevant technology, but has nonetheless engaged in the infringing conduct.
Defendant Hewlett-Packard allegedly infringes the '776 Patent through the HP Open Source JBoss-based J2EE Application Server Middleware Stack, HP Performance Management Pack and all other HP products that include Hibernate and related Red Hat JBoss Products.
Defendant Dell allegedly infringes the '776 Patent through Dell/Red Hat solution products such as the JBoss Enterprise Application Platform and all other Dell products that include Hibernate and related Red Hat JBoss products.
Defendant Genuitec allegedly infringes the '776 Patent through software products known as MyEclipse and other Genuitec products that include Hibernate.
Software Tree also alleges that the defendants' infringements have been willful and deliberate.
The plaintiff is seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction against defendants, damages for patent infringement and lost profits, treble damages, attorneys' fees, costs, interest and other just and proper relief.
Jeffrey Bragalone of Shore Chan Bragalone LLP in Dallas is attorney in charge for the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.
Case No. 6:09-cv-097