Marshall Division
Sept. 16
Plaintiff TQP is a Texas limited liability company having its principal place of business in Marshall.
It claims to own the rights to U.S. Patent No. 5,412,730 issued May 2, 1995, for an Encrypted Data Transmission System Employing Means for Randomly Altering the Encryption Keys.
TQP alleges that 17 defendants are infringing the '730 Patent by transmitting data comprising a sequence of blocks in encrypted form over a communication link.
According to the complaint, when customers connect to defendants' Web sites, a communication link is established between host servers and the client computer. Certain data transmissions, both from the client computer and from the host server, are encrypted according to the methods claimed in the '730 Patent, the plaintiff alleges.
The defendant companies are Ticketmaster Entertainment, Fandango Inc., Apple Inc., Live Nation Inc., Exxon Mobil Corp., United Parcel Service Inc., CVS Caremark Corp., DHL Express (USA) Inc., MetLife Inc., Broadcast Music Inc., eBay Inc., Half.com Inc., MicroPlace Inc., Viva Group Inc., ProStores Inc., Pay Pal Inc. and Bill Me Later Inc.
"As a result of these Defendants' infringements of the '730 Patent, Plaintiff has suffered monetary damages and is entitled to a money judgment in an amount adequate to compensate for Defendants' infringement, but in no event less than a reasonable royalty for the use made of the invention by Defendants, together with interest and costs as fixed by the court, and Plaintiff will continue to suffer damages in the future unless Defendants' infringing activities are enjoined by this Court," the complaint states.
Plaintiff TQP is also seeking attorneys' fees and other relief to which it may be entitled.
Harold Kip Glasscock of Beaumont is lead attorney for the plaintiff, along with attorneys from Russ, August & Kabat in Los Angeles, Calif., and Brochstein Law Firm PLLC in Dallas.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward.
Case No. 2:09cv279-TJW
Sept. 17
According to the complaint, plaintiff Intersil is a global technology leader specializing in the design and manufacture of high performance semiconductors.
Intersel claims to be the assignee and owner of all rights to:
U.S. Patent No. RE38,906 issued Dec. 6, 2005, for a Current Mode DC/DC Converter with Controlled Output Impedance.
U.S. Patent No. RE38,780 issued Aug. 23, 2005, for a Current Mode DC/DC Converter with Controlled Output Impedance.
Intersil alleges the '906 and '780 Patents are being infringed by defendant Power-One.
"The infringing products, which are used to practice claims of the '780 (and '906) Patent, are known by Defendant Power-One to be especially made or adapted for use in an infringement of the patents and are not staple articles or commodities of commerce suitable for substantial non-infringing uses," the complaint states.
Intersil claims the acts of infringement and exclusive rights under the '780 and '906 Patents have injured Intersil and damaged Intersil's business for which there is no adequate remedy at law unless Power-One is enjoined by the court.
The plaintiff also alleges the infringements have been willful and deliberate.
Intersil is requesting a trial by jury and seeking injunctive relief, compensatory damages, treble damages, interest, costs, attorneys' fees and other just and proper relief.
Robert McAughan Jr. of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP in Houston is lead attorney for the plaintiff, along with Jennifer Parker Ainsworth of Wilson, Robertson & Cornelius PC in Tyler.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward Jr. and referred to Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham for pre-trial proceedings.
Case No. 2:09cv281-TJW-CE
Sept. 18
Plaintiff Life Technologies claims its wholly-owned subsidiary Applied Biosystems LLC is assignee of five patents dealing with self-quenching fluorescence probe.
The patents-in-suit are:
U.S. Patent No. 5,538,848 issued July 23, 1996, for a Method for Detecting Nucleic Acid Amplification Using Self-Quenching Fluorescence Probe.
U.S. Patent No. 5,723,591 issued March 3, 1998, for a Self-Quenching Fluorescence Probe.
U.S. Patent No. 5,876,930 issued March 2, 1999, for a Hybridization Assay Using Self-Quenching Fluorescence Probe.
U.S. Patent No. 6,030,787 issued Feb. 29, 2000, for a Hybridization Assay Using Self-Quenching Fluorescence Probe.
U.S. Patent No. 6,258,569 issued July 10, 2001, for a Hybridization Assay Using Self-Quenching Fluorescence Probe.
According to the complaint, defendant Biosearch Technologies manufactures, offers for sale and sells modified oligonucleotides for biotechnology research purposes, such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays.
The complaint also states that Biosearch manufactures, offers for sale and sells dual-labeled probes incorporating a quencher and fluorophore reporter covalently linked to the 3' or 5' ends of an oligonucleotide typically 20 to 30 bases long. The fluorescence is released from these dual-labeled probes during the 5' exonuclease activity of the Taq polymerase, which cleaves the fluorescent dye upon a probe's hybridization to its complimentary sequence.
Upon information and belief, Biosearch obtains revenue, at least in part, from fees charged for the manufacture and sale of dual-labeled probes incorporating a quencher and fluorophone reporter covalently linked to the 3' or 5' ends of an oligonucleotide.
Life Technologies and Applied Biosystems allege Biosearch is infringing the patents-in-suit.
The plaintiffs are seeking injunctive relief, actual damages no less than a reasonable royalty, interest, costs, treble damages for willful infringement and other just and equitable relief.
William Dawson, Tracey Davies, Margaret Sampson and David Wooten of Vinson & Elkins LLP offices in Dallas, Austin and Houston are representing the plaintiff.
The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge T. John Ward and referred to Magistrate Judge Charles Everingham for pre-trial proceedings.
Case No. 2:09cv283-TJW-CE