Marshall Division
Sept. 2
Plaintiff Metal Hose claims to own the rights to U.S. Patent Nos. 5,409,057 and 5,551,504 for water-source heat pump coils.
In order to market and sell its heat pump coils, Metal Hose uses certain photographs and drawings of its products and has filed to secure the copyrights.
According to the complaint, defendants Extek Energy Equipment (Zhejiang) Co. and Extek Inc., referred to together as Extek, are in the business of making, using, selling or importing various types of coaxial coils.
Metal Hose alleges the defendants' coaxial coils are infringing the '057 and '504 patents.
"Additionally, Defendants have, without permission, copied certain of Plaintiffs' Photographs and Drawings and reproduced, publicly displayed, created derivative works thereof, and/or distributed copies of them in their advertising and sales materials," the complaint states.
The plaintiff alleges the defendants have induced others to use products that infringe the patents and copyrights and have committed contributory infringement.
Metal Hose alleges the infringements have been willful and intentional.
The plaintiff is asking for injunctive relief, delivery of all infringing products for destruction, compensatory damages no less than a reasonable royalty, treble damages, interest, attorneys' fees, costs and other just and proper relief.
Ryan T. Beard of Meyertons, Hood, Kivlin, Kowert & Goetzel PC in Austin is representing the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:09-cv-265-TJW
Sept. 8
Plaintiff Utility Composites International, a company with its principal place of business in Round Rock, makes and sells plastic fasteners or staples for use in repairing tires.
It claims to own the rights to U.S. Patent No. 7,581,911 issued Sept. 1 for various claims regarding plastic impact driven fasteners.
According to the complaint, defendant Kotoko makes plastic staples used for repairing tires which infringe the Utility Composites '911 Patent.
Upon information and belief, defendants Marukyo, Shamrock and Columbia River import, use or offer for sale Kotoko's infringing plastic staples.
The defendants induce others to infringe and contribute to the infringement of the '911 Patent, the suit alleges. The plaintiff further alleges the infringements have been willful and intentional.
The plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages not less than a reasonable royalty, exemplary damages, attorneys' fees, costs and interest.
In addition, Utility Composites is notifying defendants that they are legally obligated to locate, preserve and maintain all records that may be relevant to litigation.
To avoid destruction of potential evidence, defendants are required to "immediately notify their agents and employees and to halt and/or supervise the auto-delete functions of defendants' electronic systems," the suit states.
Ryan T. Beard of Meyertons, Hood, Kivlin, Kowert & Goetzl PC in Austin is representing the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:09-cv-269-TJW
Tyler Division
Aug. 31
Plaintiff Dexas International Ltd. is a Texas limited partnership with its principal place of business in Coppell.
According to the complaint, on Aug. 15, 2006, inventors Timothy Corcoran Repp and Thomas Bernard Murphy were duly and legally issued U.S. Letters Patent D526,541 for an ornamental design titled "Strainer."
The plaintiff Dexas is the exclusive licensee under the patent.
Dexas alleges that defendant Wolfgang Puck's "Silicone Strainer with Two Spatulas" and defendant Supreme Marketing's "Collapsible Silicone Strainer" are infringing the letters patent.
Dexas also claims the infringements have been willful.
The plaintiff is seeking injunctive relief, compensatory and treble damages, costs, attorneys' fees, interest and other just and proper relief.
Daniel Thompson of Thompson & Gustavson LLP in Dallas is representing the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.
Case No. 6:09-cv-393-LED
Aug. 28
Plaintiff ON Semiconductor and its subsidiary Semiconductor Components claim to own the rights to five U.S. patents.
The patents-in-suit are:
-U.S. Patent No. 5,400,286 issued March 21, 1995, for a Self-Recovering Erase Scheme to Enhance Flash Memory Endurance.
-U.S. Patent No. 6,362,644 issued March 26, 2002, for a Programmable Termination for Integrated Circuits.
-U.S. Patent No. 5,361,001 issued Nov. 1, 1994, for a Circuit and Method of Previewing Analog Trimming.
-U.S. Patent No. 5,563,594 issued Oct. 8, 1996, for a Circuit and Method of Timing Data Transfers
-U.S. Patent No. 5,434,523 issued July 18, 1995, for a Circuit and Method for Adjusting a Pulse Width of a Signal.
According to the complaint, defendants Hynix Semiconductor, Elpida Memory, Nanya Technology and Hittite Microwave Corp. have engaged in unauthorized activities that constitute direct infringement, contributory infringement and induced infringement of the patents-in-suit through their DRAM memory products.
The plaintiffs are seeking a permanent injunction enjoining the defendants, compensatory damages, interest, attorneys' fees and other equitable relief.
Michael E. Jones of Potter Minton in Tyler is representing the plaintiffs.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Leonard E. Davis.
Case No. 6:09-cv-390-LED
Lufkin Division
Sept. 3
Plaintiff Deep Nines, a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Dallas, provides network security solutions.
According to the complaint, U.S. Patent No. 7,058,976 was issued June 6, 2006, for an invention called an Intelligent Feedback Loop Process Control System. Susan Pittman Dark is the sole inventor of the '976 Patent and chairman of Deep Nines. The '976 Patent was assigned to Deep Nines.
The '976 Patent relates to a network security system for detecting attacks on a site in communications network and for taking actions to reduce and/or redirect such attacks.
In addition, on Aug. 16, 2005, U.S. Patent No. 6,930,978 was issued for a System and Method for Traffic Management Control in a Data Transmission Network.
Dark and Clifford Sharp are the inventors of the '978 Patent, which relates to a network traffic management system for sniffing data arriving at any point in the system and remembering certain parameters about that data to control the volume and type of data arriving at that point. The inventors assigned the '978 Patent to Deep Nines.
Deep Nines alleges that defendant Fortinet has engaged and continues to engage in unauthorized activities that constitute direct infringement, contributory infringement and induced infringement of the Deep Nines patents.
Specifically, the suit names the Fortinet FortiGate products, including all products running on FortiOS operating systems and FortiWiFi units.
The plaintiff is seeking compensatory damages, a preliminary and permanent injunction, costs and other just and proper relief.
Brett Govett of Fulbright & Jaworski LLP in Dallas is lead attorney for the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Ron Clark.
Case No. 9:09-cv-144-RC