Case Filed: Aug
18, 2014
Case Closed: Oct
29, 2014
Court: District Court
of Texas
Judge: K. Nicole
Mitchell
Case Summary:
SFA Systems LLC (SFA), a Texas
based company filed a case against Google Inc. (Google), a California based
Delaware corporation alleging that the latter has infringed two of their US
patents.
Patents in suit:
The patents at issue were: US6067525 entitled ‘Integrated computerized sales force
automation system,’ and US7941341 entitled ‘Sales Force Automation System and
Method’ issued on May 23, 2000 and May 10, 2011,
respectively. The ‘525 patent expires* by Oct 30, 2015 and the ‘341 patent expires* by May 8, 2020. SFA Systems is the current assignee+ of the patents (source:
MaxVal’s Assignment
Database). The ‘525 and ‘341
patents relate to an automated sales system which facilitates the sale of an
item or service by intelligently integrating into a single system, tools used
by a salesperson in the sales process.
As in Complaint:
SFA alleged that Google has directly infringed the ‘525 and ‘341 patents
without permission or authority from it. SFA also alleged that Google is involved in various
business activities such as making, using, selling, importing, and offering to
sell computer implemented sales systems including methods for facilitating
processes relating to the sale and provision methods of products and services.
Plaintiff also added
that Google’s foregoing
acts of infringement were willful and deliberate. Hence SFA is entitled to recovery of past damages, at a minimum, a
reasonable royalty along with interests and costs.
Case
Conclusion:
Joint stipulation of dismissal was filed by
the parties’ and accordingly court ordered claims to be dismissed with
prejudice with each party bearing its own costs and expenses, thereby ending
the litigation.
MaxVal had discussed this case earlier on Aug 20th
2014 when it was filed. The below mentioned blog address portrays the history
of the case.
See 6:14-CV-00705 for more details. To get alerts on cases
filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts.
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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.