Processor IP firms sue Amazon, Samsung, Huawei, ZTE, others

Processor IP firms sue Amazon, Samsung, Huawei, ZTE, others

LONDON – Alliacense LLC (Cupertino, Calif.), the adminstrator of a the Moore Microprocessor Patent (MMP) portfolio, has announced that the co-owners of the portfolio are pursuing 13 companies with complaints alleging infringement being filed with the International Trade Commission and District Court for the Northern District of California.

The 13 companies that are alleged to have infringed are: Acer Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc., Garmin Ltd., HTC Corp., Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., Kyocera Corp., LG Electronics, Nintendo Co. Ltd., Novatel Wireless Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Sierra Wireless Inc., and ZTE Corp.

The two companies that own the patent portfolio are Technology Properties Ltd. (Cupertino, Calif.) and Patriot Scientific Corp. (Carslbad, Calif.). The two companies have signed licensees for the MMP portfolio for several years and Alliacense said that the MMP Portfolio licensee community comprises nearly 100 global industry leaders. Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. were amongst the first companies to agree terms over the patents.

The strategy against the 13 companies includes: (1) a complaint filed with the ITC seeking an exclusion rrder prohibiting the importation of unlicensed products; (2) parallel actions in U.S. District Court seeking damages for past infringement that includes past un-paid royalties -- plus the interest which has accrued on those royalties -- both tripled for willful infringement, plus attorney's fees; and, (3) the pursuit of injunctions in both the US District Court and the ITC barring the sale of infringing products in the United States in the future.

Alliacense said that on June 12, 2012, the US District Court for the Northern District of California issued a "Markman" ruling that removed the "last-remaining ground" being used by a group of unlicensed, serial infringers.

The MMP portfolio, originated by TPL Group in 1989, includes US, European and Japanese patents which it considers fundamental to microprocessor operation.

TPL Group and Patriot Scientific annonced they had settled a dispute between them on the commercialization of the MMP portfolio in October 2011.

Microprocessor technologist Charles H. Moore (Chuck Moore) whose name is the first M in MMP announced he had filed a law suit against TPL and Alliacense, alleging fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract in October 2010.


Related links and articles:

www.alliacense.com

www.tplgroup.net

www.ptsc.com

News articles:

CPU technologist sues patent pool firms

Patent office again finds in favor of MMP portfolio

Audiovox signs up for MMP license

Patent firm files appeal to allow action over ARM cores

Lego Group to play with Moore Microprocessor patent portfolio

ARM drawn into lawsuit with processor technology licensor

Intel, AMD, HP pay Patriot $24 million for licenses


TAG:Patriot Scientific Alliacense TPL Amazon Samsung LG Huawei HTC ZTE Nintendo