On June 4, 2018, Groove Digital filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Delaware alleging King.com infringed upon U.S. Pat. No. 9,454,762 (the '762 Patent), titled "System and Method for Delivery of Content to a Network Device." Groove Digital claims the '762 Patent relates to push notifications for mobile apps. In the Complaint, King's game, Candy Crush Saga, infringes upon the '762 Patent.

Claim 1 of the '762 Patent reads:

A system for delivering information to a networked device of a user, the system comprising:

a microprocessor running a software application for delivering an applet application to the networked device and managing the delivery of the applet application to the networked device, wherein the applet application passively deploys one or more applets at a time of deployment,

wherein the applet application provides for delivery of content to the networked device and a display of the content in a predetermined portion of a user display that is less than an entire display of the networked device, by the one or more applet, wherein the one or more applet is configured to deploy at least one of independent of or in conjunction with an internet browser window, wherein an internet browser is configured to deploy subsequent to deployment of the one or more applets based on at least one action or inaction of the user, wherein at least one of the applets is configured to become idle upon deployment of the internet browser, and wherein the deployment of the one or more applets is such that at the time of deployment of the one or more applets the user can continue to operate the networked device in a state prior to the deployment of the one or more applets;

a first database coupled to the microprocessor and storing a first set of information relating to the user; and

a second database coupled to the microprocessor and including a second set of information for comparison to the first set of information,

wherein the microprocessor compares the first set of information to the second set of information to determine whether the content should be transmitted to the networked device for display by the one or more applets. ('762 patent, col. 14, lines 9-43).

The '762 Patent has an interesting prosecution history. Samuel Gaidemak and Paul Chacko filed the '762 Patent on March 17, 2006, but the USPTO did not issue the patent until September 27, 2016. During those ten years, the PTO issued eleven office actions against the '762 Patent. On average a patent will face three or four office actions. The more office actions a patent faces, the more prosecution history estoppel the patent acquires, which is used to narrow the patent's claims and restrict the owner's use of the doctrine of equivalents. Groove Digital is asserting the doctrine of equivalents in addition to allegations of literal infringement. King has not yet filed an Answer in response to the Complaint.

Groove Digital is also suing United Bank for infringing the '762 Patent. Normally, we do not report on non-video game related case, but this is the only other lawsuit in which the '762 Patent is asserted. Groove Digital filed the lawsuit against United Bank on December 1, 2017, in the Eastern District of Virginia. The Complaint in that lawsuit alleges that United Bank's mobile banking app infringes the '762 Patent by using push notifications, and the Complaint filed against United Bank is very similar to the Complaint filed against King. United Bank has only filed a motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. These lawsuits against United Bank and King could be the start of Groove Digital suing every mobile app developer that uses push notifications, so it will be interesting to see if Apple takes notice (in view of the integrated push notification technology built into iOS).

We will continue to follow Groove Digital's lawsuit against King and provide updates when available.

On May 15, 2018, Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC (“Sony”) filed a petition for Inter Partes review (“IPR”) of U.S. Patent No. 7,666,096 (the “’096 Patent”).  The owner of the ’096 Patent is Techno View IP, Inc. (“Techno View”).  The ’096 Patent generally relates to hardware and software for displaying stereoscopic images (e.g., by providing different images that are offset from a user’s left and right eyes to create a three-dimensional effect).  While not explicitly discussed in the petition, the IPR is likely related to Sony’s Playstation VR system.



Claim 1 of the ’096 Patent reads:

1. A method of displaying images in a videogame system that supports two-dimensional and three-dimensional display of the images, said method comprising the computer implemented steps of:
   clearing left and right backbuffers in the videogame system;
storing an image into the left backbuffer;
   determining if the image is in a two-dimensional format or a three-dimensional format, wherein when the image is in a three-dimensional format, calculating the coordinates of a second view position of the image and storing a second view position image into the right backbuffer;
   displaying the image stored in the left backbuffer onto one or more displays when the image is in a two-dimensional format; and
   simultaneously displaying the images stored in the left and right backbuffers onto the one or more displays to create a three dimensional perspective of the image to a user when the image is in a three-dimensional format.

This isn’t the first IPR that Sony has filed regarding stereoscopy.  Back in February, Sony filed an IPR petition against U.S. Patent No. 9,503,742, which relates to stereoscopic image decoding via data compression.

This filing is a great example of a defendants using IPRs to attack patents asserted in litigation.  Per Sony’s IPR petition, the ’096 Patent is involved in a patent infringement lawsuit (No. 8:17-CV-01268) filed by Techno View in the Central District of California against Sony.  The ’096 Patent was also asserted by Techno View against Sony in a U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware suit on May 15, 2017, though that case was dismissed.  Techno View has apparently also asserted the ’096 Patent against Oculus VR, LLC and Facebook, Inc.