ImberaTek, LLC, an Ideahub, Inc. subsidiary, has sued over patents that it acquired from GE Embedded Electronics (f/k/a Imbera Electronics) in early 2020. The defendant is Samsung ( 2:22-cv-00233), accused in an Eastern District of Texas complaint of infringing six of those patents through the provision of a variety of smartphones, tablets, and virtual reality headsets alleged to "include infringing processors and/or other semiconductor components, such as, for example, [Samsung's] Exynos 7420 and Exynos 9810 system-on-chips ("SoC"), as well as power management integrated circuits embedding [Qualcomm's] PMX55, PM8150C, PM8250, PM8350, and PM8350C".
GE Embedded Electronics (f/k/a Imbera Electronics), a company that GE acquired in 2013, moved the bulk of its US patent portfolio, in two recorded 2020 assignments to ImberaTek of roughly 25 US assets each, including the six patents now in suit (7,609,527; 7,989,944; 8,238,113; 8,222,723; 8,368,201; 9,107,324). At the time of its acquisition, GE Embedded Electronics was described as "a pioneering Finnish company that has spent over 10 years developing advanced embedded electronics packaging technology and manufacturing solutions", language repeated in the new complaint. The 50 plus patent assets recently transferred generally relate to those fields of technology: "techniques to leverage semiconductors in electronic modules such as printed circuit boards and package substrates", per the complaint.
ImberaTek, disclosing that it is a wholly owned subsidiary of Ideahub, Inc. (d/b/a IDEAHUB), was formed in Delaware on December 13, 2019. IDEAHUB is a Korean monetization firm, CEO of which is Kyeong-su "Keith" Im. Im reports having left a position (as "Senior Director") with TiVo/Rovi the month before becoming IDEAHUB's CEO, in 2016. On a past iteration of its public website, Ideahub described itself as hoping to "be a connecting port for such [] ideas, just like a HUB airport" and advertised multiple licensing "programs": IOT and Industrial Automation, Wireless & Telecommunication, MPEG Audio, AR & VR, and Video Entertainment. Although that website maintains a 2018 copyright, its content has changed, IDEAHUB now listing three licensing "programs": IoT, Streaming, and Telecommunications.
To explore the connections between these programs and various entities apparently implementing them, including Helios Streaming, LLC, Modern Telecom Systems, LLC, SIPCO LLC, and SynKloud Technologies, LLC, see "Former Imbera Electronics Assets Appear Headed Toward Assertion" (March 2020). ImberaTek's first suit comes on the heels of an apparent end, or respite, in the litigation campaign of Helios Streaming. Cases had been active in the Central District of California against Fandango and Peacock TV and in the District of Delaware against Vudu, the last one very briefly. A prior stay there was lifted only to another imposed almost immediately, to "finalize an agreement in principle to resolve all claims asserted in this action". The request to lift the earlier stay, imposed to await the outcome of certain inter partes reviews (IPRs), noted their results: the cancellation of all claims challenged from three of the 11 patents-in-suit. Stays were imposed in the suits against Fandango and Peacock TV as well, with "ending settlement" noted on the docket. Comcast filed two of the three IPRs and is the parent of all three defendants.
The plaintiff pleads that Samsung has "been aware of the Asserted Patents at least since February 4, 2020, when ImberaTek provided a letter to Defendants asserting that Defendants' products infringed the '527, '723, '201, and '944 patents". ImberaTek includes among the list of accused products VR headsets Alcatel Vision, Idealens K2, and Deepoon M2, as well as at least one smartphone provided by an unnamed party, the Meizu PRO 5, apparently due to their alleged incorporation of either the Samsung Exynos SoC or Qualcomm parts.
Latham & Watkins LLP and Ward & Smith, P.A. filed the complaint on ImberaTek's behalf. 6/24, Eastern District of Texas.
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