Cloud Byte cloud storage patent challenge instituted

On February 11, 2025, less than 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 7,739,544, owned and asserted by Cloud Byte LLC, an NPE. The ‘544 patent relates to a disk array rebuild system and method. It has been asserted against Dell.

View district court litigations by Cloud Byte. Unified is represented by Steven Shipe of Barnes & Thornburg and by in-house counsel, T.J. Murphy and Jordan Rossen.

To view the reexamination request, visit Unified’s Portal: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/exparte/90019777

Muvox song selection patent challenged

On February 11, 2025, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 11,899,713, owned and asserted by Muvox LLC, an NPE. The ‘713 patent is generally directed to selecting a song based on mood. It has been asserted against several companies, with cases currently pending against Spotify, BMG Rights Management, and Netaktion.

View district court litigations by Muvox. Unified is represented by in-house counsel, Jessica L.A. Marks and Andrea Shoffstall.

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.