Mosaid End Patent Suit against VMware

Case Filed: Au 09, 2011

Case Closed: Jul 11, 2014

Judge: Gregory M. Sleet

Court: Delaware District Court

Case Summary:

Canada-based Mosaid Technologies, developer of semiconductor memory technology filed suit against Delaware-based Adobe Systems alleging infringement on two of their patents related to the field of multi-processor digital computer systems. Alcatel-Lucent, IBM, Juniper, Netapp, Red Hat and VMware were the other defendants in the suit.

Patents-in-Suit:

The patents at issue were:

• US5892914 entitled ‘System for accessing distributed data cache at each network node to pass requests and data,’ issued on Apr 06, 1999 and expiring by Feb 26, 2017
• US6505241 entitled ‘Network intermediate node cache serving as proxy to client node to request missing data from server,’ issued on Jan 07, 2003 and expiring by Jun 03, 2012

The patents are currently assigned to RPX Corporation (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database) and according to the complaint, Mosaid is the owner of the patents. The patents describe a digital computer system capable of projecting larger data images, over greater distances, at higher bandwidths and with much better consistency than the existing data caching mechanisms.

As in Complaint:

Mosaid alleged that the products manufactured by defendants infringe claims of the ‘914 and ‘241 patents as the accused products constitute a material part of the patented technology. The products cited were: Adobe flash memory server, Alcatel velocix digital media delivery platform, IBM WebSphere software, Juniper media flow, NetApp flexcache, VMware vFabric GemFire platform, RedHat enterprise linux with resilient storage add-on and enterprise server V6. The complaint said, Mosaid is entitled to recovery of past damages, at a minimum, a reasonable royalty.

Case Conclusion:

In 2011, Netapp was dismissed due to Mosaid filing a voluntary dismissal. The parties including: Adobe, Alcatel-Lucent, IBM, Juniper and Red Hat were terminated from the case in 2012. The case proceeded with VMware as the only defendant and in July 2014, Mosaid filed a stipulation of dismissal, following which the court granted and ordered all claims dismissed with prejudice, with each party bearing its own costs, expenses and attorneys' fees.

See 1:11-cv-00698 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

Max-Insight enables you to access all of our patent tools such as Patent Term Estimator, Patent Family Tree, Has This Patent Been Litigated, etc. in one location. Max-Insight is available in 4 different subscriptions: Free, Bronze, Silver and Gold with varying usage levels. To learn more about Max-Insight, click here.

Court Dismisses Case against Wal-Mart Stores over Search Techniques

Case Filed: Jun 08, 2013

Case Closed: Jul 08, 2014

Court: Delaware District Court

Judge: Gregory M. Sleet

Case Summary:

New York-based patent-licensing company, Smart Search Concepts filed a patent infringement suit targeting the retail store Wal-Mart, accusing them of infringing 3 U.S. patents covering database access and search methods. The other defendant in the suit was: Sam's West, a subsidiary of Wal-Mart.

Patents-in-Suit:

The patents involved in the suit were:

• US7188100 entitled ‘Search-on-the-fly report generator,’ issued Mar 06, 2007 and expires* by Aug 24, 2021
• US7302423 entitled ‘Search-on-the-fly with merge function,’ issue on Nov 27, 2007 and expires* by Feb 25, 2020
• US7574432 entitled ‘Search-on-the-fly/sort-on-the-fly search engine,’ issued on Aug 11, 2009 and expires* by Jun 21, 2024

Smart Search is the current assignee+ of the patents (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database). The patents describe search-on-the-fly data retrieval for accessing or searching databases, allowing user to obtain information about data in the database. Search-on-the-fly can be a search engine or part of a search engine or may also stand alone or make calls to a search engine.

As in Complaint:

Smart Search alleged that Wal-Mart, without license or authorization, infringed the '100, ‘423 and ‘432 patents by making, using, offering for sale, and/or selling products or services that search a database on-the-fly after receiving a database query, generate a defined query, access a database and generate a search result. These search features are included in Wal-Mart’s website, as per the complaint.

Smart Search said it was entitled to compensation for the retailer’s past infringement and for any infringement that continued from the filing of the complaint along with reimbursement for its attorneys’ fees.

Case Conclusion:

Stipulation of dismissal was filed by Smart Search and accordingly court ordered claims to be dismissed with prejudice with each party bearing its own costs and expenses, thereby ending the litigation.

Other Cases Filed:

Since 2013, Smart Search has filed 9 cases against Nordstrom, Gap, JC Penney, etc. claiming the same search-on-the-fly method and most cases are closed.

See 1:13-cv-01042 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

Max-Insight enables you to access all of our patent tools such as Patent Term Estimator, Patent Family Tree, Has This Patent Been Litigated, etc. in one location. Max-Insight is available in 4 different subscriptions: Free, Bronze, Silver and Gold with varying usage levels. To learn more about Max-Insight, click here.

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* Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.

+ MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.

RIM, St. Clair Intellectual Property Settle IP Suit over Camera-Related Patents

Case Filed:  Jun 20, 2008

Case Closed:  Mar 05, 2014

Court: Delaware District Court

Judge: Leonard P. Stark

Case Summary:

St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants sued BlackBerry, formerly known as Research In Motion Ltd. alleging that four patents related to digital cameras in mobile telephones were infringed.  The suit also named General Imaging as the other defendant. The patents involved in the suit were: 

•       US5138459 entitled ‘Electronic still video camera with direct personal computer (PC) compatible digital format output’ issued on Aug 11, 1992
•      US6094219 entitled ‘Electronic still video camera with direct personal computer (PC) compatible digital format output’ issued on Jul 25, 2000
•       US6233010 entitled ‘Electronic still video camera with direct personal computer (PC) compatible digital format output’ issued on May 15, 2001
•       US6323899 entitled ‘Process for use in electronic camera’ issued on Nov 27, 2001

All the patents expired± by Nov 20, 2010 and were last assigned* to St. Clair Intellectual Property (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database). The complaint stated that the defendants manufacturing digital cameras directly infringed one or more claims of the patents-in-suit, thereby injuring the plaintiff and wanted Court to enjoin them from infringing.

Sony, Canon, Casio, Nikon, Kodak, and others have entered into an agreement with St. Clair Intellectual Property to license the patents-in-suit, the complaint said.

The suit is now concluded, as the parties filed a joint motion to dismiss the case. Having considered the motion, the Court ordered all claims asserted and counterclaims by both parties be dismissed with prejudice pursuant to the parties' confidential Agreement. Each party will bear their own fees and expenses.

See 1:08-cv-00371 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.

Max-Insight enables you to access all of our patent tools such as Patent Term Estimator, Patent Family Tree, Has This Patent Been Litigated, etc. in one location. Max-Insight is available in 4 different subscriptions: Free, Bronze, Silver and Gold with varying usage levels. To learn more about Max-Insight, click here.

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± Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents. 

* MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.