OPAL, world's most comprehensive SEP landscape tool introduces VENN to automatically show licensor overlap

Unified Portal’s OPAL (Objective PAtent Landscape) report was designed to address asymmetries in the licensing of standard essential patents and to create a more fair and transparent patent licensing process around core patents supporting next waves of consumer technology growth. Portal’s OPAL recently launched its Advanced Analytics for IEEE, Video Codecs, and 3GPP. Users can understand if a given area contains certain contributors or patent pools. In addition, it allows for an advance breakdown between the positive and negative training labels.

For example, the graph below looks at Sisvel WiFi 6 Members that account for 155 of the positive labels (Blue Circle) and 251 of the Negative Labels (Orange Circle). This is the first tool to demonstrate the overlap between licensors, pools and standards.

 
 

In another example below, the same can be said of IEEE contributors with 884 positive labels and 2,139 negative labels.

 
 

For 3GPP, users can understand the relationship between the various generations of cellular technology.

 
 

For Video Codec, Portal users can select between the numerous pools and understand the various breakdowns in relationship to the entire video codec universe.

 
 

Unified's OPAL report is a one-of-a-kind patent landscaping tool that leverages advanced machine-learning techniques to create a flexible solution for negotiating and licensing Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). A free trial version is available through Unified's Portal. For more information, view our Methodology or email us at info@unifiedpatents.com.

M4siz search protocol patent prior art found

Unified is pleased to announce prior art has been found on U.S. Patent 6,526,402, owned by M4siz, LTD, an NPE. The '402 patent generally relates to a searching procedure, particularly for searching on the Internet, using a search engine associated with a database where the user submits a request string comprising a locator (or URL) for the search engine and a search string including at least one search term. This patent has been asserted against most major retailers such as Macy’s, Walmart, Wayfair, Sears, Petsmart, HEB, Kroger, Pottery Barn, and Aldi.

We would also like to thank the dozens of other high-quality submissions that were made on this patent. The ongoing contests are open to anyone, and include tens of thousands of dollars in rewards available for helping the industry to challenge NPE patents of questionable validity by finding and submitting prior art in the contests. Visit PATROLL today to learn more about how to participate.

WINNING SUBMISSION

Fill out the form below to download the winning submission:

IP Edge entity Bassfield IP image processing patent prior art found

Unified is pleased to announce prior art has been found on U.S. Patent 6,641,053, owned and asserted by Bassfield IP, an NPE and entity of IP Edge. The ‘053 patent generally relates to an image processing apparatus for encoding and decoding a document containing machine-readable code overlaid by human-readable content. It had been asserted against several such as PayPal, Target, Applebees, and Starbucks.

We would also like to thank the dozens of other high-quality submissions that were made on this patent. The ongoing contests are open to anyone, and include tens of thousands of dollars in rewards available for helping the industry to challenge NPE patents of questionable validity by finding and submitting prior art in the contests. Visit PATROLL today to learn more about how to participate.

WINNING SUBMISSION

Fill out the form below to download the winning submission:

CommWorks cellular patent held invalid

On February 13, 2023, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) issued a final written decision in Unified Patents, LLC v. Commworks Solutions, LLC holding all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 8,923,846 unpatentable. Owned by CommWorks Solutions, LLC, an NPE and subsidiary of IP Investments Group LLC, the ‘846 patent relates to the recovery of information in a mobile communications network. It had been asserted against Comcast Cable Communications.

View district court litigations by CommWorks Solutions. To read the petition and view the case record, see Unified’s Portal. Unified was represented by in-house counsel Michelle Aspen, Ashraf Fawzy, and Jordan Rossen.

Transport & Automotive Zone Feb 2023 Update

With the growing prevalence of electric cars, self-driving capabilities, and connected technologies, the automotive industry’s focus on data-driven innovation continues to evolve. 

Combined, the patent risk landscape within the transportation space appears far different than it did even a few years ago. In 2022, nearly 80% of all cases in this sector were brought by NPEs, the highest since 2015. Operating company litigation decreased by 31% over the past three years, while patent assertion entity (PAE) NPE litigation increased by 47%.

Transport Manufacturers were targeted the most, but suppliers and even dealers saw litigation. 

Infotainment remained the most targeted technology from 2012-22. These systems do more than control the radio - they allow cars to communicate with other components or devices.  The last two years have seen nearly 92 NPE infotainment assertions. 

Car companies such as Honda, Toyota, Mazda, and Subaru have increased development in connectivity in vehicles as Unified’s Velocity of Innovation metric demonstrates; patents related to CPC code H04W - Wireless Communications have been a priority for each of these companies.

Neo Wireless, the most active plaintiff in 2022, accounted for 21% of all NPE-PAE cases and targeted infotainment systems of Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, Toyota, Stellantis, and Volkswagen.

Top defendants in 2022 included Ford, General Motors, Honda, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla, and Toyota.

Most challenged patent owners at the PTAB include Intellectual Ventures, Neo Wireless, Blitzsafe, and Scramoge.

METHODOLOGY

Unified looked at all major Transport manufacturers and the top 10 Transport suppliers by revenue since 2012.

Total number of reported cases can vary. Unified made its best attempt to eliminate mistaken or duplicative filings.

Statistics include litigations initiated by NPEs or Declaratory Judgments (DJs) initiated by operating companies against NPEs.

Unified strives to accurately identify NPE through all available means, such as court filings, public documents, and product documentation.

LEGEND

Non Practicing Entity (NPE) = Company which derives the majority of its total revenue from Patent Licensing activities.

Operating Company or Op. Co. = Company which derives most of its total revenue from Product Sales or Services. Could be an SME or a large company.

NPE (Patent Assertion Entities) = Entity whose primary activity is licensing patents and acquired most of its patents from another entity

NPE (Small Company) = Entity whose original activity was providing products and services, but now is primarily focused on monetizing its own patent portfolio.

NPE (Individual) = Entity owned or controlled by an individual inventor who is primarily focused on monetizing inventions patents by that individual inventor.

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