May 17, 2024
Cisco (2:24-cv-00360) is the second defendant to be sued in the litigation campaign that Delaware plaintiff Innovations In Memory LLC (IIM) launched earlier this month with a suit against IBM. In the new Eastern District of Texas complaint, the plaintiff asserts three patents described as "concerning improvements in memory storage devices and systems". Cisco is accused of infringement through the provision of a wide array of products, ranging from its "MDS 9000 Series Switches" to its "Unified Computing System".
IIM—formed in Delaware on April 23, 2021, with little to no information regarding its personnel or management publicly available—received the asserted patents (7,672,226; 8,160,070; 8,285,961) in a portfolio of 94 from VSIP Holdings LLC (f/k/a Violin Systems LLC) in June 2021. In addition to patents developed by "all-flash pioneer" VIOLIN Systems (f/k/a Violin Memory), the portfolio includes patents originating with GridIron Systems (an early-stage data storage company acquired by Violin Memory in 2013) or Xiotech Corporation (VIOLIN having acquired Xiotech's flash and hybrid storage array product business in 2018).
VSIP Holdings is an entity associated with Quantum Partners LP, a hedge fund associated with Soros Fund Management LLC, which rescued VIOLIN Systems from the brink of bankruptcy in 2017. The new owner of the former VIOLIN patents is tied by public records to Fatih Ozluturk, a former engineer with InterDigital, Inc. and the founder of Armada IP Capital—described as a platform to provide expert advice and management of IP assets, and to provide capital when needed". (Armada IP counts industry veteran John Garland, a former executive at Rockstar Consortium, as part of its team.)
Ozluturk is also behind Clear Imaging Research, LLC, an NPE that litigated patents on which he is the sole named inventor, against Apple and Samsung through August 2023 (with RPX coverage of the campaign here). In complaints, Clear Imaging Research pleads that Ozluturk became "one of the most prolific inventors at InterDigital" and is named "on over 450 US patents and pending applications, over 225 of which have issued as US patents".
On social media, Ozluturk dates his roles with Clear Imaging Research (as founder and CEO) back to March 2004, also identifying several other current positions including founder and CEO of Patentory, "an online platform for searching, evaluating, and analyzing patents, and for filing patent applications" (since May 2012); and "venture partner" with ER Accelerator, "advising several early stage companies" (since June 2011). Ozluturk also served as "managing principal" for monetization firm Soryn IP Group, LLC (from 2014 to 2019) and cofounder and "managing director" of IP finance group Soryn Capital, LLC (from 2016 to 2019).
Cisco is accused of infringing the '226 patent through the provision of its "MDS 9000 Series Switches" with "Cisco Nexus Dashboard Fabric Controller"; the '070 patent, through the provision of its "Unified Computing System (UCS) products that support the "Cisco UCS Manager software"; and the '961 patent, through its "C-Series Rack Servers" and "X-Series Modular Systems", which are "managed by Cisco Intersight with Cisco Intersight Workload Optimizer functionality".
For coverage on IIM's suit against IBM, see "Memory Portfolio Makes Expected Litigation Debut" (May 2024). The new East Texas case has been assigned to Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap; BC Law Group, P.C. filed the complaint on behalf of the plaintiff. 5/14, Eastern District of Texas.
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