On Friday, Jan. 31, 2014, Cisco filed an answer-counterclaim in D. Del. against Rockstar in response to the complaint filed against Cisco by Rockstar’s subsidiary Bockstar (see our Jan. 2, 2014 post). Cisco’s counterclaim includes a declaratory judgment action based on Rockstar’s assertion of patents against cable operators that purchase Cisco equipment, including cable
Complaints
Rockstar sued by Arris who manufactures equipment sold to cable operators involved in Rockstar litigation
Yesterday Arris filed a declaratory judgment action in D. Del. against Rockstar based on Rockstar asserting alleged standard essential patents (SEPs) against cable operators who purchased Arris equipment (recall our Jan. 21, 2014 post about Rockstar lawsuits with cable operators). Among other things, Arris seeks a declaration of the essentiality of Rockstar patents, what standard…
Rockstar sued by cable operators for breaching standard setting obligations
Last Friday, several cable operators filed a Complaint against Rockstar in D. Del. alleging that Rockstar’s assertion against them of patents breached obligations owed to various standard setting organizations (“SSOs”) based on prior owner Nortel’s commitment to license patents on RAND, FRAND or royalty-free terms. Our Jan. 2 and Nov. 1 posts discussed Rockstar’s purchase…
Patent monetization entity MPHJ sues FTC for threatening enforcement action
Yesterday patent monetization entity MPHJ filed a Complaint in W.D. Tex. against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for threatening an enforcement action against MPHJ premised on MPHJ’s extensive letter campaign to accumulate license fees on its scanner patents by threatening small end-users with litigation that MPHJ allegedly did not actually intend to pursue. We…
More holiday filings in Rockstar’s battle with Google-Android
Recall that Rockstar started asserting patents it acquired from Nortel by filing a lawsuit in E.D. Tex. on Halloween against Google and certain Android handset manufacturers (see our Nov. post that also summarizes Rockstar’s acquisition of Nortel’s patents). On Christmas Eve, Google responded by filing a Complaint in N.D. Cal. seeking a declaratory judgment…
Zenith and MPEG LA move to dismiss ViewSonic’s FRAND-related counterclaims
A few weeks ago, we posted about ViewSonic’s FRAND-related counterclaims against Zenith, Panasonic and Philips (collectively, “Manufacturing Plaintiffs”), as well as its FRAND-related Third-Party claim against MPEG LA. On Monday, December 16, the Manufacturing Plaintiffs and third-party MPEG LA filed a motion to dismiss with prejudice ViewSonic’s FRAND-related counterclaims for failure to state a claim…
Motorola opposes Microsoft’s motion to transfer to Ninth Circuit the appeal of Judge Robart’s RAND ruling (Fed. Cir. 14-1089)
Motorola has filed its opposition to Microsoft’s motion to transfer the appeal of Judge Robart’s RAND ruling from the Federal Circuit to the Ninth Circuit (see our prior blog on Microsoft’s motion). Recall that Microsoft argued that the appealed action was a contract action, its nature did not change when that action was consolidated…
House Passes Patent Reform Bill: A Summary of the Innovation Act’s Essential Provisions
Last Thursday, December 5, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 3309 (“the Innovation Act”), a patent reform bill generally directed to perceived patent litigation abuse by certain patent assertion entities (what some call “patent trolls”). Prior draft versions of the House bill had gone through several revisions in the past few months (see our September…
Rockstar’s Halloween lawsuit against Google and Android device makers skirts standard essential patents?
Yesterday, the Rockstar Consortium (and its subsidiaries MobileStar Technologies LLC and NetStar Technologies LLC) sued Google and several Andriod device manufactures (Asustek, HTC, Huawei, LG, Pantech, Samsung and ZTE) in E.D. Tex. on several patents that Rockstar had acquired in July 2011 out of the Nortel bankruptcy.
You…
MPEG LA licensors file flurry of standard-essential patent suits on MPEG-2 video compression technology
Back in June, we alerted you to a number of infringement suits brought by licensors to the MPEG LA ATSC patent pool in the Southern District of Florida, targeting several television manufacturers — ViewSonic, Craig Electronics, and Curtis International. Yesterday, a different group of MPEG LA licensors filed suit on patents related to a different…