SCOTUS amicus filed requesting to clarify broad scope of Section 285

On February 10, 2025, Unified filed an amicus brief supporting Dish Network's petition requesting that the Court confirm the broad scope of Section 285. Specifically, the amicus brief discusses why third parties, including counsel, may be liable for fees under Section 285 and similar fee-shifting statutes. The brief also discusses the need for clarification regarding the standard for when fee shifting statutes apply to related administrative proceedings, explaining why inter partes review fees may be included in the scope of Section 285.

Unified Patents is represented by in-house counsel, Jonathan Stroud and Michelle Aspen. Unified was also represented by William G. Jenks of Jenks IP Law in seeking en banc review of these issues from the Federal Circuit. Download the amicus brief below.

$1,000 awarded for AutoConnect user profile patent prior art

Unified is pleased to announce PATROLL crowdsourcing contest winner, Ekta Aswal, who was awarded $1,000 for her prior art submission on U.S. Patent 9,147,297, owned by AutoConnect Holdings LLC, an NPE. The ‘297 patent focuses on building profiles associated with vehicle users, enhancing user interface and virtual personality presentations based on user profiles, creating targeted advertising profiles, modifying behavior through map routes based on user information, implementing vehicle location-based home automation triggers, and initiating vehicle communications with third parties. It has been asserted against Ford and GM.

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

Empire IP entity, Fleet Connect, Wi-Fi patent challenged

On February 4, 2025, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 7,742,388, owned and asserted by Fleet Connect Solutions, LLC, an NPE and entity of Empire IP. The '388 patent focuses on a system and method for increased bandwidth in digital communications, particularly within local and wide area networks including WLANs and mobile networks. It has been asserted in over 45 cases, most recently against Werner Enterprises, Ezurio, Lantronix, Cedar Electronics, Juniper Networks, and others.

View district court litigations by Fleet Connect. Unified is represented by in-house counsel, Andrea Shoffstall and Roshan Mansinghani, in this proceeding.

DynaIP entity, Err Content, media casting patent challenge instituted

On January 28, 2025, one month 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 10,721,542, owned and asserted by Err Content IP LLC, an NPE and entity of Pueblo Nuevo/DynaIP. The '542 patent generally relates to providing main content and extra content to a user through a reference item. It has been asserted against Panasonic, Hisense, Spotify, Roku, Comcast, LG Electronics, and Amazon. 

View district court litigations by Err Content. Unified is represented by John Pienkos at Amundsen Davis and by in-house counsel, Kelly Hughes and T.J. Murphy.

To view the reexamination request, visit Unified’s Portal: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/exparte/90019787

Keysoft advertising patent challenged

On January 30, 2025, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 8,271,315, owned and asserted by Keysoft, Inc., an NPE. The '315 patent is directed to a targeted advertising platform using information gleaned from consumer purchases. It had been asserted against Amazon and others.

View district court litigations by Keysoft. Unified is represented by Christopher Schultz and Jasjit Vidwan of ArentFox Schiff LLP, and by in-house counsel, David Seastrunk and Roshan Mansinghani, in this proceeding.