Marshall Division
April 8
Plaintiffs NLS and VSN seek a declaratory judgment that 17 defendants "do not have any valid ownership interests or rights in certain patent pending applications."
According to the complaint, the plaintiffs have the exclusive right to make, use, sell and offer for sale the technology encompassed by the patent application portfolio together with customized artificial finger nail products made from practicing the technology.
Seven companies are named as defendants: Sevea International Inc., Flowering Scents LLC, Macris Enterprises LLC, American Equities Management LLC, Artificial Nail Technologies Inc., True Fit Nails LLC and Angels of America LLC.
Nine individuals have been named as defendants: Michael Macris, Jerry Saxton, Katie Saxton, Christina McNally, Justin Williams, Ron Steffen, Craig P. Gifford, Scott L. Nielson and Staci Gifford.
The suit states that Dr. Gifford, as sole inventor, was issued U.S. Patent No. 5,968,302 on Oct. 19, 1999, and U.S. Patent No. 6,196,234 on March 6, 2001. The patents were for precision fit fingernails.
In 2002, Dr. Gifford and Nielson formed True Fit Nails LLC to pursue the artificial nail business, and TFN received an assignment of all rights and ownership of the '302 and '234 patents on Aug. 2, 2003.
Gifford and Nielson applied for six more patents in 2004 for methods and computer programs to create customized, three-dimensional nails.
According to the complaint, in June 2005, Dr. Gifford, Nielson and Williams formed Artificial Nail Technologies Inc. and transferred the patents to ANT.
In September 2005, Gifford and Nielson filed applications for three more patents on technology to make nail mold impressions to create artificial nails.
ANT formed a joint business venture with Flowering Scents and Macris under a new entity Sevea. The Asset Contribution Agreement included assignment of the '302 and '234 patents along with the nine pending patent applications. ANT was to receive 10 million shares of common stock in Sevea.
ANT claims that despite the agreement and the contribution of substantially all of its assets, it never received the share or any other type of consideration from Sevea.
The plaintiff took civil action against Sevea in 2006 in a federal court in Utah.
A shareholder derivative action was filed by Macris and Macris Enterprises against Sevea, Jerry and Katie Saxton and Dr. Gifford in Utah district court in February 2007.
The district judge issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the Saxtons from producing mass produced finger nails or from disclosing any confidential trade secret information belonging to Sevea.
In the federal case, the judge ordered Sevea to return all items to ANT it was using to manufacture artificial nails.
NLS claims it owns all rights and titles to the patent application portfolio and has the right to grant exclusive license to VSN to make customized artificial fingernails and seek a declaratory judgment from the court and a declaratory judgment that VSN does not infringe any patents belonging to ANT. The plaintiffs are seeking attorneys' fees and costs and other relief the court may deem just and proper.
Clyde Siebman of Siebman, Reynolds, Burg, Phillips & Smith LLP is representing NLS and VSN.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:09-cv-099-TJW
April 9
Plaintiff Hospital Systems Corp. claims it owns the rights to two patents dealing with medical imaging and storage.
U.S. Patent No. 5,321,520 was issued June 14, 1994, for an Automated High Definition/Resolution Image Storage, Retrieval and Transmission System.
U.S. Patent No. 5,416,602 was issued May 16, 1995, for Medical Image System with Progressive Resolution.
HSC alleges that defendants Carestream Health, Stryker Imaging, Sage Software, Aspyra, ScImage, Diamedx dba SIMMS, Aware Inc., eRad Image Medical and RamSoft USA infringes the '520 and '602 patents by making, using, selling or distributing Picture Archiving and Communications Systems (PACS).
Some of the defendants' allegedly infringing products include the Carestream Direct View, Stryker Office PACS Power System, Sage Intergy PACS, Aspyra Access Net System, ScImage PICOM, SIMMS PACS, Aware AccuRad, eRad PACS and Ramsoft Power Server PACS.
"Defendants' aforementioned acts have caused damage to Hospital Systems and will continue to do so unless and until enjoined," the complaint states.
Hospital Systems is seeking a permanent injunction against defendants, compensatory damages, interest, treble damages, costs, attorneys' fees and other appropriate relief.
Eric Albritton of Albritton Law Firm in Longview and Andrew DiNovo of DiNovo Price Ellwanger & Hardy LLP in Austin are representing the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:09-cv-100-TJW
Plaintiff Actus LLC is a Texas limited liability company based in Marshall, with Daniel F. Perez as manager and owner.
Actus claims to own the rights to four U.S. patents for a Method and Apparatus for Conducting Electronic Commerce Transactions Using Electronic Tokens.
The patents-in-suit are:
U.S. Patent No. 7,328,189 issued Feb. 5, 2008
U.S. Patent No. 7,249,099 issued July 24, 2007
U.S. Patent No. 7,177,838 issued Feb. 13, 2007
U.S. Patent No. 7,376,621 issued May 20, 2008
According to the complaint, the patents concern products or services in which an electronic token is issued to a user who can add monetary value into a user account for purchase of a second vendor's goods or services.
The plaintiff alleges that 20 defendants are infringing the patents-in-suit.
Some of the defendants include Bank of America, Capital One, Google, JP Morgan Chase, MasterCard, Visa, Wal-Mart, The Walt Disney Co. and Western Union.
Infringing products alleged by the plaintiff include Bank of America Visa Gift Cards and PrePaid Cards, Capital One Loyalty Cards, UBid Online Products, Google Checkout, Green Dot Prepaid Visa, Baby Phat Prepaid Visa Rush Cards, Hilary Duff Visa Gift Cards, Western Union QuickPay, Cinema Now products, Vivendi Music downloads, Wal-Mart MP3 Music Downloads, Wild Coins and Activision video downloads.
Actus is seeking a permanent injunction, compensatory damages, treble damages, costs, interest, attorneys' fees, and other relief to which it may be entitled.
Bo Davis of the Davis Firm PC in Longview is representing the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:09-cv-TJW
April 13
Plaintiff Vasudevan Software Inc. (VSi) claims to own the rights to two U.S. patents.
U.S. Patent No. 6,877,006 B1 was issued April 5, 2005, for a Multimedia Inspection Database System (MIDaS) for Dynamic Run-Time Evaluation. The '006 Patent was reexamined and patentability was confirmed on Jan. 6, 2009.
U.S. Patent No. 7,167,864 B1 was issued Jan. 23, 2007, for a Multimedia Inspection Database System (MIDaS) for Dynamic Run-Time Evaluation. The '864 Patent was reexamined and patentability was confirmed on Jan. 6, 2009.
According to the complaint, IBM, including IBM Global Services, has infringed the '006 and '864 patents by making, using, selling or importing WebSphere Information Integrator, WebSphere Federation Server and InfoSphere Federation Server.
Allegedly Oracle, including Oracle Consulting, has infringed the '006 and '864 patents by making, using, selling or importing the Oracle Data Service Integrator.
VSi claims the defendants had notice of the patents prior to the complaint, making the alleged infringements willful and deliberate.
The plaintiff is seeking a permanent injunction, compensatory damages no less than a reasonable royalty, treble damages for willful infringement, attorneys' fees, costs and other relief deemed just.
Brooke A.M. Taylor of Susman Godfrey LLP is lead attorney for the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:09-cv-105-TJW