Display Technologies, LLC, an entity affiliated with prolific inventor and frequent plaintiff Leigh M. Rothschild, has pushed the number of defendants in its sole litigation campaign past 50, suing GM (6:21-cv-00240), Harley-Davidson (6:21-cv-00242), Honda (6:21-cv-00242), Toyota (6:21-cv-00304), and Volkswagen (Porsche) (6:21-cv-00230) in March alone. Infotainment systems are targeted, with these defendants joining several other vehicle makers in the campaign, including Aston Martin, against which Display Technologies has sought entry of a default judgment, with Rothschild providing a supportive declaration with an estimated damages range for that case.
Based on "average royalty rates for patent licensing" ranging from three to six percent (lifted from "smallbusiness.chron.com as reported in March 2020") and using "a conservative 3 percent royalty rate", Rothschild submits that damages against Aston Martin "could be calculated to be as much as approximately $10M", "considering Defendant's use of the accused technology for at least the last five years". Rothschild then acknowledges that "a number of factors could reduce the damage amount", arriving at a "reasonable award of damages . . . in the range of from $75[K] to $1[M]". This declaration is attached to Display Technologies's December 2020 motion for default (after an earlier clerk's entry of default), which seeks a judgment of $1M, with damages no lower than $75K.
Typical of a Rothschild plaintiff, this NPE has proceeded in file-and-settle fashion, with infringement allegations ranging over its nearly six-year life span from Wi-Fi-enabled digital cameras and related image transfer apps early on, then NFC-enabled mobile devices in 2017, later pivoting to Bluetooth-enabled home audio devices and then, in 2018, to Bluetooth-enabled automotive audio receivers. Generally related to wirelessly transferring media files between devices, the single asserted patent (9,300,723) names Rothschild as its inventor and issued in March 2016 with estimated priority in December 2007. While another patent (8,671,195) from the same family was asserted at the beginning of the campaign, the NPE has solely asserted the '723 patent in the latter half.
Display Technologies was formed in Texas in May 2015 with Rothschild as manager. Rothschild, through the numerous plaintiffs under his apparent control, has filed hundreds of patent suits. While Rothschild historically asserted patents on which he himself is a named inventor, that changed in 2018. Many of his campaigns since have asserted patents received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), several of them naming others as inventors. For background on Rothschild and this shift, see "Rothschild Plaintiff Keeps Bluetooth Campaign Alive with New Suit Against JVCKenwood" (August 2018).
Another clerk's entry of default has been set aside, in a June 2020 case against AP Global, with an extension of the deadline to answer or otherwise respond to the Display Technologies complaint to April 30. Other 2020 cases remain open against Cloud4Wi, GoZone WiFi, and Leantegra (targeting marketing systems). In prior complaints in this campaign, Display Technologies has disclosed to the Central District of California only "Patent Asset Management" (its corporate parent) as a nonparty having an interest in the outcome of the litigation. Presumably, that disclosure is meant to identify Patent Asset Management, LLC, one of the many entities that Rothschild has formed in Florida, this one in May 2017. The more recent suits, including those filed in March, have been assigned to District Judge Alan D. Albright. 3/9, Porsche 3/10, GM, Harley-Davidson, 3/29, Honda, 3/30, Toyota, Western District of Texas.
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