VoiceAge EVS LLC has filed its latest lawsuit, against OnePlus (2:25-cv-00460), in the Eastern District of Texas, not in Delaware where it filed its prior suits in this campaign, against HMD Global, TCL, Lenovo, Apple, and Xiaomi (in that order). Only the case against HMD remains open. Filed in October 2019, that case has been set for trial in mid-March 2027 by District Judge Gregory B. Williams. Against OnePlus, VoiceAge EVS asserts the same five patents previously in suit, joined by one more, all described as "cover[ing] foundational audio coding technologies for the EVS codec" and as having been "declared essential to the EVS Standard by way of Intellectual Property Rights ('IPR') Declarations to one or more of 3GPP's organizational partners".
VoiceAge EVS is a Fortress Investment Group LLC plaintiff. Its formation, acquisition of its patents, and connections to Fortress, as well as further background on the enforcement efforts of Saint Lawrence Communications LLC and EVS Codec Technologies, LLC—two other plaintiffs asserting patents with the same origins—are covered at "VoiceAge's Fortress Partnership Spawns New Campaign as Related Acacia Litigation Continues" (October 2019). As noted, VoiceAge EVS accused OnePlus of infringing the five patents already in suit (7,693,710; 8,401,843; 8,825,475; 8,990,073; 9,852,741) as well as one more (9,015,038;), through the provision of devices (e.g., the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 13 smartphones) that support "EVS codec capabilities compliant with the EVS Standard" such as the Enhanced HD Voice, Ultra HD Voice, or HD Voice+ services.
The plaintiff alleges that it first reached out (via letter) to OnePlus in February 2020 over its patents. Between December 2019 and 2020, the plaintiff also sent similar letters to alleged associated entities Guangdong OPPO Mobile Telecommunications, Guangdong Ouija Holdings, and Realme Chongqing Mobile Telecommunications. Per the complaint, no substantive responses were received, despite "VoiceAge EVS ha[ving] entered into NDAs, conducted multiple rounds of negotiations, and concluded patent licenses with eleven other sophisticated handset manufacturers" in the time since.
On January 22, 2021, Delaware District Judge Colm F. Connolly denied an HMD motion to dismiss the case against for lack of standing, doing so without prejudice and granting requested jurisdictional discovery. The case was stayed, reassigned to Judge Williams, and reopened after HMD elected not to refile the motions that had prompted the discovery. The court handed down a January 2023 claim construction order. Discovery continued, through the filing of a Rule 12(c) motion for judgment on the pleadings, filed in February 2024, in which HMD argues that the asserted claims of the '073 and '741 patents are invalid for seeking to claim unpatentable subject matter. The court has taken that motion's procedural propriety, as well as perhaps the substance, under advisement, setting trial for March 2027.
Represented by Robins Kaplan LLP, VoiceAge also pleads that the patents-in-suit have been "independently evaluated by the International Patent Evaluation Consortium ('IPEC')" and determined to be essential to the EVS standard. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap has been assigned to preside over the case against OnePlus. 5/2, Eastern District of Texas.
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