DIFF Scale Operation Research, LLC recorded the November 2017 assignment of over 20 patents acquired from CommScope on the same day that it asserted different subsets of those patents against seven defendants in a new litigation campaign. On March 8, the NPE filed two separate complaints in the District of Delaware against Cypress Semiconductor (1:18-cv-00372) and IDT (1:18-cv-00373) and five separate complaints in the Eastern District of Texas against Calix (2:18-cv-00063), Cisco (2:18-cv-00063), Huawei (2:18-cv-00063), Intel (Altera) (2:18-cv-00063), and Microsemi (2:18-cv-00063). Most of the patents generally relate to virtual networking, while some broadly concern using phase-locked loops (PLLs) to generate clock signals. Across the defendants, accused products range from multiservice networking platforms to certain FPGAs (field-programmable gate arrays).
None of the 13 patents asserted in this campaign is at issue against every defendant, nor is any single defendant accused of infringing all 13 patents. Each of the PLL/clock recovery patents (6,664,827; 6,721,328; 7,106,758; 7,881,413) comprises a family of one: the '827 patent issuing in December 2003 with estimated priority date in March 2001; the '328 patent, in April 2004 with estimated priority date in November 1999; the '758 patent, in September 2006 with estimated priority date in August 2001; and the '413 patent, in February 2011, with estimated priority date in March 2001. The '827 and '413 patents are asserted against every defendant but Calix, while the '328 patent is at issue against every defendant except Calix and Huawei and the '758 patent is asserted against Cisco, IDT, Intel, and Microsemi.
Five of the virtual networking patents (6,216,166; 6,233,221; 6,990,110; 7,170,894; 7,239,627) also comprise a family of one, while the other four are part of two-member families: the 6,407,983 patent (with an unasserted family member); the 6,847,609 patent (also with an unasserted family member); and the 6,859,430 patent with its continuation 6,940,810 (also asserted). All nine of these patents are asserted against Calix, while six (the '221, '983, '609, '430, '810, and '110 patents) are at issue against Huawei; five (the '166, '983, '609, '810, and '110 patents), against Cisco; and two (the '430 and '810 patents), against Microsemi.
DIFF Scale's patents were developed at ADC Telecommunications, the accomplishments of which the NPE traces in its complaints from that company's foundation in 1935 to develop hearing aids. ADC was acquired in 2010 by Tyco Electronics, forming TE Connectivity, which CommScope acquired in 2015. DIFF Scale further alleges that "[p]rior licensing of ADC Telecommunications' patents confirms the significant value of ADC Telecommunications' innovations" because HTC acquired a portfolio of over 80 patents from ADC, two of which it asserted against Apple in 2011 both in district court and before the International Trade Commission—along with six other patents from disparate sources. The press quotations included with these allegations seem to emphasize that HTC paid a reported $75M to ADC for the portfolio.
CommScope assigned the patents-in-suit here, as part of a portfolio of over 20 assets, to DIFF Scale on November 21, 2017, the day after the plaintiff was formed in Delaware. DIFF Scale pleads that its president and owner Brooks Borchers is "a former leader of research and development divisions at Boston Scientific Corporation". 3/8, Cypress, IDT, District of Delaware, Calix, Cisco, Huawei, Intel (Altera), Microsemi, Eastern District of Texas.
For more information on DIFF Scale and for the latest information on patent litigation campaigns, visit RPX Insight.
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