In early October, the case filed by Fractus SA against ADT was dismissed with prejudice after the parties settled on the eve of a trial before Eastern District of Texas Rodney Gilstrap. Now, Fractus has filed new complaints in the same district, one against Geotab (2:28-cv-01008) and the other against Verizon (Verizon Connect, Verizon Wireless) (2:24-cv-01009). The same five antenna systems patents are asserted against both defendants, including a patent that issued to Fractus in September 2024. This case appears to be the second Fractus suit naming Verizon Wireless as a defendant.
Based in Barcelona, Fractus was formed in Spain by "two college friends"—Carlos Puente, a professor at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya and named inventor on many of the company's patents, and Ruben Bonet, the entity's president and CEO. In its complaints, it characterizes itself as having "designed antennas for and/or [having] licensed the right to use its technology to leading companies across a variety of industries, including HTC, LG, RIM, Motorola, Samsung, Asus, ZTE, and CommScope". Fractus further pleads that it "has cumulatively sold more than 40 million antennas to customers".
In an April 2018 complaint, Fractus targeted Verizon Wireless with ten patents, seven from a family that Fractus characterizes as the "Fractus Multiband Array Patents" and three from a family characterized as the "Fractus Slim Triple Band Patents". The case concerned high-performance antennas sourced from "manufacturers like Amphenol, Kathrein, CommScope, and RFS" and allegedly incorporated into cellular base stations deployed throughout the carriers' wireless networks. CommScope intervened, and the suit ended in October 2019 after the parties noticed a settlement with a "non-party".
Here, Fractus asserts five patents (8,456,365; 8,810,458; 11,031,677; 11,349,200; 12,095,149) against both GeoTab and Verizon Wireless, with a focus on products made for vehicles. The Geotab accused products are "the Geotab GO8, GO8 Rugged, GO9, GO9 Rugged, GO9+, GO9B, SmartWitness KP2, SmartWitness CP2, 1 and FleetCarma C2", with notice alleged to have been imparted through an October 2021 letter.
Fractus accuses the Verizon defendants of infringement through the provision of "the SmartWitness CP2 (CP2-VZ-LTE), 1 which is referred to by Verizon as the Fleet Dash Cam and/or Road-facing camera (model 2); SmartWitness KP2 (KP2- VZ), 2 which is referred to by Verizon as the AI Fleet Dashcam, Dual-Facing AI Dash Cam, RoadFacing AI Dashcam, and/or Driver-Facing AI Dashcam; VT-400, which is also sold as a main component of the Hum X (Gen 2); VT-410, which is also sold as a main component of the Hum X (Gen 2) and the Hum+ (Gen 2); Verizon Connect AI-110, which is also referred to as the Meridian Zenith and/or Equipment Asset Tracker-Battery (EAT-B); Verizon Connect AI-111, which is also referred to as the Meridian Prime and/or Equipment Asset Tracker (EAT); Delphi Connect 4G LTE; CalAmp LMU-1230; CalAmp LMU-2630MB; CalAmp LMU-3040LVB; CalAmp LMU3640LVB; CalAmp TTU-730LV; CalAmp HMU-3640LB; and Xirgo XT6372R". October and November 2021 letters purportedly put Verizon on notice of the patents now in suit.
The new suits have been assigned to Judge Gilstrap. Susman Godfrey LLP represents Fractus. 12/6, Eastern District of Texas.
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