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Inter Partes Review Requested for Two Planet Blue Lip Sync Patents, Week of November 25, 2013
| December 2, 2013
Video game-maker Naught Dog, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment, has requested inter partes review of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,611,278 and 6,307,576 that claim methods for lip synching sound with the facial expressions of animated characters (see inter partes review Request Nos. (3) & (4)). The owner of the patents, Planet Blue, has sued Naughty Dog for infringement. Planet Blue’s infringement action has been consolidated, along with fourteen other cases, into McRO, Inc. v. Namco Bandai Games America, Inc. (Case No. 2:12-cv-10322-GW-FFMx (C.D. Cal.)). Planet Blue has also asserted the ‘278 and ‘576 patents against Sony Computer Entertainment in a patent infringement action styled McRO, Inc. d/b/a Planet Blue v. Sony Computer Entertainment America, LLC and SCE Santa Monica Studio, Inc. (Case No. 1:12-cv-01514-LPS (D. Del.)); and against Sucker Punch Productions in an action styled McRO, Inc. d/b/a Planet Blue v. Sucker Punch Productions, LLC (Case No. 1:12-cv-01515-LPS (D. Del.)). These infringement actions have not made much progress, and Respondents’ motions to stay pending completion of the inter partes reviews seem likely to be granted.
Inter partes review was also requested for another Intellectual Ventures II patent, this time by Toshiba (see inter partes review Request No. (7)). This past March, Intellectual Ventures I & II sued Toshiba for infringement of the patent, plus nine other patents, related to computer bus interfaces for use in hard disk drives.
The following inter partes review requests were filed:
(1) IPR2014-00193 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,785,530 entitled EVEN-ORDER NON-LINEARITY CORRECTION FEEDBACK FOR GILBERT STYLE MIXERS, which is owned by Acacia Research. Filed by Broadcom Corporation on November 17, 2013. The ‘530 patent is asserted in patent infringement actions styled Signal Enhancement Techs., LLC v. Broadcom Corp., (Case No. 8:12-cv-02072 (C.D. Cal.)).
(2) IPR2014-00194 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 7,335,157 entitled HUMIDIFIER MODULE, which is owned by Draeger Medical Systems, Inc. Filed by Atom Medical International, Inc. on November 27, 2013. The ‘157 patent is asserted in patent infringement actions styled Draegar Medical Systems, Inc. v. Atom Medical International, Inc. and Philips Healthcare (Case No. 2:12-cv-00512-UA-DNF (M.D. Fla.)); and Certain Thermal Support Devices, Infant Incubators, Infant Warmers, and Components Thereof (Inv. No. 337-TA-896 (USITC)).
(3) IPR2014-00197 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,611,278 entitled METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY ANIMATING LIP SYNCHRONIZATION AND FACIAL EXPRESSION OF ANIMATED CHARACTERS, which is owned by McRO, Inc. d/b/a Planet Blue. Filed by Naughty Dog, Inc. on November 27, 2013. The ‘278 patent is asserted in a patent infringement action styled McRO, Inc. d/b/a Planet Blue v. Naughty Dog, Inc. (Case No. 2:12-cv-10335-GW-FFM (C.D. Cal.)).
(4) IPR2014-00198 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,307,576 entitled METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY ANIMATING LIP SYNCHRONIZATION AND FACIAL EXPRESSION OF ANIMATED CHARACTERS, which is owned by McRO, Inc. d/b/a Planet Blue. Filed by Naughty Dog, Inc. on November 27, 2013. The ‘576 patent is asserted in a patent infringement action styled McRO, Inc. d/b/a Planet Blue v. Naughty Dog, Inc. (Case No. 2:12-cv-10335-GW-FFM (C.D. Cal.)).
(5) IPR2014-00199 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,771,970 entitled LOCATION DETERMINATION SYSTEM, which is owned by Locationet Systems 2000, Ltd. Filed by Location Labs on November 27, 2013. The ‘970 patent is asserted in a number of patent infringement actions in the District of Delaware, and styled CallWave Communications, LLC v. AT&T Mobility, LLC, and Google, Inc. (Case No. 1:12-cv-01701-RGA); CallWave Communications, LLC v. Sprint Nextel Corp. and Google, Inc. (Case No. 1:12-cv-01702-RGA); CallWave Communications, LLC v. T-Mobile USA, Inc. and Google, Inc. (Case No. 1:12-cv-01703-RGA); CallWave Communications, LLC v. Verizon Communications, Inc., et al. (Case No. 1:12-cv-01704); and CallWave Communications, LLC v. AT&T Mobility, LLC, and Research in Motion (Case No. 1:12-cv-01788).
(6) IPR2014-00200 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 5,535,320 entitled METHOD OF GENERATING A VISUAL DESIGN, which is owned by CreateAds, LLC. Filed by Google and Yahoo! on November 27, 2013. CreateAds has asserted the ‘320 patent in a patent infringement action against Google (Case No. 12-1606-GMS (D. Del.)), Yahoo! (Case No. 12-1613-GMS (D. Del.)), and at least thirty-three other alleged infringers.
(7) IPR2014-00201 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,618,788 entitled ATA DEVICE CONTROL VIA A PACKET-BASED INTERFACE, which is owned by Intellectual Ventures II, LLC. Filed by Toshiba Corporation on November 27, 2013. The ‘788 patent is asserted in patent infringement actions styled Intellectual Ventures I, LLC and Intellectual Ventures II, LLC v. Toshiba Corporation, et al. (Case No. 1:13-cv-00453-UNA (D. Del.)).
(8) IPR2014-00202 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,069,839 entitled CIRCUIT AND METHOD FOR IMPLEMENTING SINGLE-CYCLE READ/WRITE OPERATION(S), AND RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY INCLUDING THE CIRCUIT AND/OR PRACTICING THE METHOD, which is owned by Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. Filed by GSI Technology, Inc. on November 27, 2013. The ‘839 patent is asserted in a patent infringement action styled Cypress Semiconductor Corp. v. GSI Technology, Inc. (Case No. 3:13-cv-02013-JST (N.D. Cal.)).
The following ex parte reexamination requests were filed:
(1) 90/013,066 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,199,158 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONFIGURING VARIANT SOFTWARE FOR ELECTRONIC DEVICES and owned by Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. Filed on November 27, 2013.
(2) 90/013,067 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 8,414,431 entitled TABLE TENNIS BALL STORAGE APRONand owned by Indian Industries, Inc. Filed on November 27, 2013 by Medal Sports (Taiwan) Corp. The ‘431 patent is the subject of an infringement action styled Indian Industries, Inc. v. Sam’s East, Inc., (Case No. 3:13-cv-191 (S.D. Ind.)).
(3) 90/013,068 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,558,194 entitled CONNECTOR AND METHOD OF OPERATIONand owned by John Mezzalingua. Filed by on November 27, 2013. The ‘194 patent is the subject of an infringement action styled John Mezzalingua v. Corning (Case No. 5:11-cv-761 (N.D.N.Y.)) and the ITC investigation Certain Coaxial Cable Connectors, 337-TA-650.
(4) 90/013,069 (electronically filed) – U.S. Patent No. 6,153,830 entitled CONNECTOR AND METHOD OF OPERATIONand owned by John Mezzalingua. Filed by on November 27, 2013. The ‘830 patent is the subject of an infringement action styled John Mezzalingua v. Corning (Case No. 5:11-cv-761 (N.D.N.Y.)) and the ITC investigation Certain Coaxial Cable Connectors, 337-TA-650.
