Apple, Google, Sony No Longer Facing More 4G Patent Troll Suits

US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal has shut down a non-practicing entity, or patent troll, seeking to relaunch suits against cellphone manufacturers Sony, Amazon, and Apple, among others, over 4G patents. Patent aggregation company Acacia and subsidiary Adaptix has been denied further suits over new products launched by the companies using the same technology, with the judge saying that it must be satisfied with existing lawsuit results and patent agreements in place.


"New products are now released not every few years, but every few months, weeks or even days. When judges refuse to add new products during the course of the litigation -- whether due to the patent owner's lack of diligence or prejudice to the accused infringer -- the patent owner typically responds by filing new cases. Plus, the 2011 America Invents Act requires separate lawsuits against separate infringers. The convergence of these two trends is that where there once was one patent suit, there are now two suits, or three, or, as here, dozens" wrote Grewal.


The suits were filed against Apple, AT&T Mobility, Google, HTC, Motorola, Sony, and Verizon Wireless over the use of CQI reporting mode 3, a standard used in the LTE protocol. Acacia re-filed a new suit after the iPhone 5 was released, and then again after the iPhone 5s and 6 were revealed. Cases were either dismissed, or a settlement negotiated before trial in all of the "Wave 1" cases filed in 2013 and heard in 2014.


Grewal ruled after months of hearings that "after a long, hard slog through fact and expert discovery in the Wave 1 cases, the court ultimately granted defendants' motions for summary judgment of non-infringement and invalidity."