Uninvited Guests in the Smart Home: New NPE Patent Litigation

In keeping with the recent trend in smart home patent litigation, IoT Innovation rang in the new year, suing Snap One in Texas, accusing its Control4 platform for smart home integration. (2:25-cv-00022). Four months earlier, IoT Innovation filed a complaint (2:24-cv-00704) against Snap One in the same district for distributing Ecobee smart home thermostats, cameras, sensors, and plugs. 

In the consolidated litigation is also Resideo Technologies, spin-out of the Honeywell Home brand of smart-home products and acquirer of Snap One in June 2024. IoT Innovation expanded its campaign, filing lawsuits directly against Ecobee in February 2024 and their parent company, Generac, in September 2024.

Founded in 2011 by Daniel Mitry and Timothy Salmon, Empire IP is one of the more prolific NPEs, with over 660 cases attributed to the entity and its associated companies. Empire IP is also behind Cuozzo Speed Technologies. Cuozzo may ring a bell as the NPE behind the 2016 US Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to affirm the PTAB’s and Federal Circuit invalidation decisions and their use of the broadest reasonable claim construction rule. 

Unfortunately, the year 2025 promises more activity from Empire IP, as several tranches of patents have been assigned to Empire IP or Empire IP-associated entities like Fleet Connect. Fortunately, Empire IP’s success appears to be mixed:  out of 992 defendants, 500 have settled, 155 have seen their cases dismissed voluntarily with prejudice, and only 47 have proceeded to a Markman hearing. Of the defendants whose cases have gone to Markman, only 22 have settled. 

The majority of the 32 patents litigated by IoT Innovation originated over a decade ago from Nokia and AT&T and passed through various Intellectual Ventures entities such as Sulvanuss Capital, Spyder Navigations, and Amosmet Investments. In fact, Intellectual Ventures maintains a secured interest in the monetization proceeds from a number of the patents assigned to IoT Innovations. 

Empire IP, in general, and IoT Innovations specifically, continue to expand their litigation, becoming an uninvited guest in the smart home. With the smart home industry’s estimated 2025 revenue being $170B, as well as a CAGR of nearly 10% through 2029, little doubt remains as to whether NPEs will continue to assert in this space.

Intellectual Discovery video codec patent challenge instituted

On January 22, 2025, 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 9,432,675, owned by Intellectual Discovery, an NPE. The ’675 Patent relates to a decoding method that uses most-probable-candidate modes for performing intraprediction.

Unified is represented by Michael Jones at Rothwell Figg and by in-house counsel, Jessica L.A. Marks and Michelle Aspen, in this proceeding.

To view the reexamination request, visit Unified’s Portal: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/exparte/90019738

Avant Location wireless patent prior art found

Unified is pleased to announce prior art has been found on U.S. Patent 8,934,922, owned and asserted by Avant Location Technologies LLC, an NPE and entity of Anjay Venture Partners LLC. The ‘922 patent focuses on areas where mobile operators face competition from short-range wireless communication technologies like Bluetooth, DECT, and WIFI. The patent has been asserted against Apple, Fibar Group, Nice Group, and Samsung.

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

OptiMorphix SaaS patent found invalid

On January 21, 2025, the Central Reexamination Unit (CRU) entered a notice of intent to issue a reexamination certificate canceling all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 7,031,314, owned by OptiMorphix, Inc. The ‘314 patent is generally directed to providing differentiated services within a network communication system at a service module. It was asserted against Microsoft, Broadcom, Cisco, Oracle, Amazon, VMWare, and Google.

View district court litigations by OptiMorphix. Unified was represented by in-house counsel, T.J. Murphy and Roshan Mansinghani.

To view the reexamination request, visit Unified’s Portal: https://portal.unifiedpatents.com/exparte/90019520

Another Stingray IP Wi-Fi patent challenged

On January 16, 2025, Unified Patents filed an ex parte reexamination proceeding against U.S. Patent 7,440,572, asserted by Stingray IP Solutions, an NPE and entity of Acacia Research Corporation. The ‘572 patent relates to a secure wireless LAN device that encrypts both address and data information. It is currently being asserted against Leedarson IoT, Schlage Lock, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company, and is being challenged in a declaratory judgment (DJ) by Aidot.

View district court litigations by Stingray IP. Unified is represented by in-house counsel, Kelly Hughes and Roshan Mansinghani, in this proceeding.