Fractus LTE antenna patent challenge instituted

On November 7, 2024, two months after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 8,674,887, owned and asserted by Fractus S.A., an NPE. The ‘887 patent generally relates to an antenna design for mobile devices. The patent has been asserted against ADT.

View district court litigations by Fractus. Unified is represented by in-house counsel, Michelle Aspen and T.J. Murphy.

To view the reexamination request, visit Unified’s Portal: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/exparte/90019664

Another Fractus LTE antenna patent challenged

On September 17, 2024, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 8,674,887, owned and asserted by Fractus S.A., an NPE. The ‘887 patent generally relates to an antenna design for mobile devices. The patent has been asserted against ADT.

View district court litigations by Fractus. Unified is represented by in-house counsel, Michelle Aspen and T.J. Murphy.

Fortress IP entity, Neo Wireless, 4G/LTE patent challenge instituted

On March 14, 2024, three months after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 9,948,488, owned by Neo Wireless, LLC, an NPE and Fortress IP entity. The '488 patent generally relates to transmitting probing signals in a wireless communication system employing OFDM, where multi-carrier signals and spread spectrum signals are overlaid together in both time and frequency domains. This reexamination challenge is part of Unified’s 3GPP zone. The '488 patent has not been asserted in litigation before, but related family members have been asserted against Mercedes-Benz, FCA, Toyota, Nissan, GM, Tesla, and others.

View district court litigation by Neo Wireless. Unified is represented by Jonathan Bowser and Clint Wilkins of Haynes and Boone, and by in-house counsel, David Seastrunk and Jessica L.A. Marks., in this proceeding.

To view the reexamination request, visit Unified’s Portal: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/exparte/90019338

Fractus LTE antenna patent challenge instituted

On January 10, 2024, three months after Unified filed an ex parte reexamination, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) granted Unified’s request, finding substantial new questions of patentability on the challenged claims of U.S. Patent 11,349,200, owned and asserted by Fractus S.A., an NPE. The ‘200 patent generally relates to a wireless device that includes an antenna system that has a level of complexity above a certain threshold. The patent has been asserted against ADT and Vivint.

View district court litigations by Fractus. Unified is represented by Chris Coulson at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, and by in-house counsel, T.J. Murphy and Alyssa Holtslander.

To view the reexamination request, visit Unified’s Portal: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/exparte/90019275

5G value to cars found to be less than $10

The June 2022 Brattle Group report calculates Fair, Reasonable And Non-Discriminatory (FRAND) royalty rates for wireless Standard-Essential Patents (SEPs) in vehicles for both 4G/LTE and 5G. 

Brattle found that wireless technology is increasingly expanding from handsets to the Internet of Things (IoT), including “connected vehicles.” LTE royalties for handsets (unlike those for vehicles) have been market and court tested, offering clarity around applicable FRAND rates for handsets. Rates for vehicles thus were calculated using LTE handset rates as a benchmark; adjusted for the differences in usage and capabilities. Brattle also found royalty rates for 5G as applied to vehicles to be the same as LTE because 5G rates have not been market or court tested and 5G currently offers no additional value to vehicles over LTE. While some 5G connected vehicle applications may create value in the future, that future is still uncertain and years away. Brattle notes that widespread adoption of 5G connected vehicle applications is necessary before any appreciable value can be attached to them.  

Brattle uses two distinct approaches to obtain an independent, FRAND rate. The first identified a vehicle’s Telematics Control Unit (TCU) as the key licensable component and calculated a FRAND rate of $6.57 per vehicle for a comparable TCU-capable handset, adjusted for the lower connectivity and usage requirements of vehicles.

The second approach uses the consumers’ relative willingness to pay for wireless connectivity in different applications as an indicator of the relative value of a 4G license in those applications, and found that consumers value connectivity in vehicles significantly less than in handsets. Using this approach, Brattle found the rate to be $7.76 per vehicle.

The full report and other 5G tools are available exclusively through Unified Patents.  In addition to economic reports, Unified provides Objective Patent Landscapes (OPAL) for many standards, including 5G and LTE, with the world’s largest human evaluated training set, Wi-Fi 6, HEVC, AVC, and others.  Unified’s standard submission database, OPEN, allows users to access all contributions to major standards such as 3GPP, MPEG, IEEE, and IETF.

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