After an early September reboot of two earlier litigation campaigns and the start of a third, Callstat Solutions LLC has began a fourth, suing Sync.com (6:21-cv-00918) and Zoom Video Communications (1:21-cv-01314) over a single patent generally related to "dynamically indicating a status of a communication system" through a "graphical user interface". The asset is one of thousands assigned by Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) to Hanger Solutions, LLC in December 2019, as are the patents-in-suit in Callstat's other three campaigns, two of which Callstat has just expanded as well: one to add a case against ZTE (6:21-cv-00919) and the second to sue Check Point Software (3:21-cv-02134) and McAfee (2:21-cv-00352).
Callstat accuses Sync.com and Zoom of infringement through their respective provision of "status icons" for indicating a file's syncing status within Sync Windows filesharing software and of features for enabling and disabling certain options when a user has joined a meeting via the Zoom platform. Issuing to Nortel Networks in June 2001, the asserted patent (6,243,452) has now expired. It landed in IV hands (together with dozens of other assets) in April 2005, Hanger Solutions acquiring it as part of a large portfolio acquisition in December 2019.
Hanger Solutions is a subsidiary of Georgia monetization firm IP Investments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group). It is one of several such entities to scoop up patent assets from IV in 2019. Those patents have made their way to the courthouse directly, with various IPinvestments Group plaintiffs launching campaigns, but Hanger Solutions has passed some of the patents onto others for assertion. RPX has previously covered those divestitures and subsequent litigation matters. Hanger Solutions remains the assignee of current record in publicly available USPTO assignment records.
The campaign to which ZTE was just added as a defendant began with suits against HTC and Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) roughly one week earlier. All are accused of infringing two former IV patents (6,137,789; 6,510,148) broadly directed to wireless communications. Infringement allegations in those complaints focus on smartphones that support the CDMA 2000 standard, the complaint against ZTE calling out the provision of the ZTE Atrium smartphone. The '789 and '148 patents comprise a two-member family, with grant dates in October 2000 and January 2003, respectively, the family having earliest estimated priority dating back to June 1997. The original development work for these patents, now expired, was conducted at Nokia.
Check Point Software and McAfee are accused of infringing a single patent (6,236,983) generally related to collecting "information" about a computer or a user through a "discovery agent", Check Point through the Suspicious Activity Monitoring (SAM) system within its SmartView Monitor product and McAfee through the McAfee Agent management feature within its ePolicy Orchestrator software. In a September 2 complaint, Callstat Solutions accused BMC Software of infringing that same patent (also expired), but that case did not launch this campaign. As recently reported more extensively, Callstat began this campaign by asserting a patent against Garmin that had been previously invalidate under Alice. A similar problem plagued the start of Callstat's fourth active campaign, with the NPE hitting Nordstrom and Xerox with a second invalidated patent, only to voluntarily dismiss those complaints and start over, against HP, in early September.
Callstat has disclosed that it has no parent corporation and that no publicly traded company owns ten percent or more of its stock. It was formed in Delaware on January 29, 2021, with currently available assignment records reflecting no movement of any patent assets into its hands. In its complaints, though, Callstat Solutions pleads ownership and provides a New York City address that is associated with a web of other plaintiffs associated with Jeffrey M. Gross. Comprehensive coverage of Gross's activities can be read here, with further treatment of even more recent campaigns linked to Gross here and here. 9/8, Sync.com, ZTE, Western District of Texas; 9/8, Check Point Software, Northern District of Texas; 9/8, McAfee, Eastern District of Texas; 9/16, Zoom, District of Delaware.
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