Human Differential Intelligence, LLC has launched a litigation campaign targeting defendants Bed Bath & Beyond ( 6:20-cv-00310), CIGNA ( 6:20-cv-00305), CVS ( 6:20-cv-00311), and The Gap ( 6:20-cv-00307) over their websites' use of the reCAPTCHA v2 CAPTCHA system for user verification. The two asserted patents belong to a family of seven issuing to two named inventors, one of which is identified as Human Differential's manager. The last campaign to target the use of reCAPTCHA technology went dormant last August, after a suit against Best Buy was dismissed with prejudice from the Southern District of California.
According to Human Differential, its patents-in-suit ( 8,752,141; 9,192,861) are "directed to, inter alia, methods for distinguishing a human from a computer using a graphical/pictorial and/or motion-based verification or challenge system(s)". They issued in June 2014 and November 2015, respectively, as part of that seven-member family, which has an earliest estimated priority date in June 2008, based on the filing of a provisional application. The family's named inventors are John Nicholas Gross and Kristin Gross of Berkeley, California, with some of the patents in the family issuing to a trust naming those two individuals.
The trust assigned the family to Human Differential on November 7, 2019. Human Differential was formed in Texas three days earlier; state records identify John Nicholas Gross as its manager. Gross identifies himself as having been the principal of a solo law practice in Berkeley since 1988, identifying a second current position (since May 2017), as "IP and General Legal Advisor" for Berkelyn, which reports providing "asset management and data intelligence for public and private space actors".
Separate plaintiff Confident Technologies, Inc. waged its own litigation campaign targeting the use of reCAPTCHA (Completely Automatic Public Turing Test to Tell Humans and Computers Apart) technology by Live Nation Entertainment (Ticketmaster), Anschutz (AXS Group), Fandango, and Best Buy (sequentially, in that order) between May 2017 and August 2019. Live Nation argued that the claims of the asserted patent ( 8,621,578), with an estimated priority date in December 2008 (several months after the earliest estimated priority date for the family asserted by Human Differential) are invalid under Alice as patent-ineligibly directed to the abstract idea of "generating and administering an image-recognition test that provides user access". In a later motion, AXS Group identified a similar putative abstract idea: "recognizing and categorizing images". Both motions were briefed but never ruled on by the court, cut off by dismissals with prejudice in light of settlements. The subsequent cases against Fandango and then Best Buy also ended within months, with little substantive litigation.
Gross appears to be connected to multiple other NPEs, including DiamondOp, LLC; Keranos LLC; Media Queue LLC; WordCheck Tech LLC; and Jonker LLC, several of which have initiated a litigation campaign of their own. Additional information regarding those connections can be read on RPX Insight here and here. 4/22, Western District of Texas.
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