MARSHALL - The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation issued a transfer order last week consolidating four patent cases and assigning them to Chief District Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas.
The infringement actions center on patents related to computer network security.
According to the panel’s Aug. 3 order, plaintiff Trend Micro (U.S.) moved to centralize the litigation in the Northern District of California or the Southern District of New York. The litigation consists of four actions, two patent infringement actions in the Eastern District of Texas and one declaratory judgment action each in the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of Texas.
The defendants in the Eastern District of Texas actions, Check Point Software Technologies and Trend Micro (Japan) both supported the motion, while Palo Alto Networks, the plaintiff in the Southern District of New York action, opposed centralization. The patent holder, Taasera Licensing, also opposed centralization, as did its corporate parent, Quest Patent Research Corporation, which is named as a defendant in the New York declaratory judgment action, the order states.
Taasera alternatively suggested centralization in the Eastern District of Texas, according to the order.
The panel found that centralization in the Eastern District of Texas “will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation.”
“The opposing parties’ arguments against centralization are not persuasive,” the order states. “They point to the differences between both the accused products, which range from email scanners to internet firewalls, and likely infringement issues. Undoubtedly, there will be differences in how these products operate and how they allegedly implement the patents-at-issue.
“But all of the accused products operate in the same field of technology – computer network security.”