A number of new green patent complaints were filed in the 3rd and 4th quarters of 2018 in the areas of advanced batteries, green fitness equipment, eco-friendly pet products, LEDs and lighting control technologies, smart grid, solar power, and water technologies.

Advanced Batteries

Celgard, LLC v. MTI Corporation

Green Fitness Equipment

Green Fitness Equipment Company, LLC v. Precor Inc. et al

Green Pet Products

The Green Pet Shop Enterprises, LLC v. Fine Promotions

LEDs and Lighting Technologies

ETi Solid State Lighting, Inc. v. Menard, Inc.

Lemaire Illumination Technologies, LLC v. Huawei Technologies USA Inc. et al

LG Innotek Co., Ltd. v. MelodySusie Brand Industrial Co., Limited et al

LG Innotek Co.Ltd. v. Evergreat, Inc. et al

Next Lighting Corporation v. Cree, Inc.

Polaris PowerLED Technologies, LLC v. VIZIO, Inc.

SengLED USA, Inc. and Zhejiang Shenghui Lighting Co., Ltd. v. TVL International LLC

Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc. v. Bolb, Inc. et al

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. et al v. Fry’s Electronics, Inc.

Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC v. Feit Electric Company, Inc.

Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC v. Ilumi Solutions, Inc.

Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC v. Lumenty Technologies, Inc.

Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC v. Lumenty Technologies, Inc. 2

Technical LED Intellectual Property, LLC v. Sengled USA, Inc.

YJB LED, Inc. v. AXP Technology, Inc.

Smart Grid

SIPCO LLC v. Emerson Electric Co. et al

Sipco v. Fibar

SIPCO, LLC v. AEON LABS, LLC

SIPCO, LLC v. FrontPoint Security Solutions, LLC

Solar

Smart Solar Inc. dba Smart Living Home & Garden v. Sky Billiards, Inc. dba Best Choice Products

Water Technologies

Waters Corporation and Waters Technologies Corporation v. Agilent Technologies Inc.

There were several new green patent lawsuits filed in November and December in the areas of eco-friendly pet products, electric vehicle charging, LEDs, smart grid, and solar mounting systems.

Green Pet Products

The Green Pet Shop Enterprises, LLC v. PetEdge, Inc.

This lawsuit involves pet pad technology that cools your pets without water or electricity.  The complaint was filed December 29, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

The asserted patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 8,720,218 and 9,226,474, both entitled “Pressure activated recharging cooling platform” and directed to a cooling platform comprising a temperature regulation layer, a support layer, and a channeled covering layer.

The temperature regulation layer is adapted to hold a composition and has a plurality of angled segments, wherein angled segments within a sealed perimeter of the temperature regulation layer are formed by a top side and a bottom side at a predefined distance, and channels, wherein the channels substantially form sides by contacting the top side with the bottom side at a distance lesser than the predefined distance.

The complaint alleges that the defendant’s Slumber Pet Cool Pup Pad infringes the two patents.

EV Charging

ChargePoint, Inc. v. SemaConnect

ChargePoint sued SemaConnect alleging infringement of four electric vehicle charging patents.

The asserted patents are:

U.S. Patent No. 7,956,570, entitled “Network-controlled charging system for electric vehicles”

U.S. Patent No. 8,138,715, entitled “Network-controlled charging system for electric vehicles through use of a remote server”

U.S. Patent No. 8,432,131, entitled “Network-controlled charging system for electric vehicles”

U.S. Patent No. 8,450,967, entitled “Network-controlled charging system for electric vehicles”

The accused products are SemaConnect’s Charge Prop community electric vehicle charging stations.

The complaint was filed December 15, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland.

LEDs

ETi Solid State Lighting, Inc. v. Satco Products, Inc.

ETi accused Satco of infringing two patents relating to flush mount LED lighting products for use with screw-in incandescent bulb sockets.

The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patent Nos. 9,500,352 and 9,541,270, both of which are titled “Integral LED light fixture” and directed to an integral LED light fixture for installation in an incandescent light bulb socket including a housing with a forwardly-extending portion and peripheral outer walls defining a recess, a rearwardly-extending socket base to be screwed into an incandescent light bulb socket, electrical components including a printed circuit board having a set of LEDs, and a lens for covering the printed circuit board and being attached to the housing.

Filed November 15, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the complaint lists as accused products include Satco-Nuvo screw-on utility fixtures.

Lemaire Illumination Technologies, LLC v. Microsoft Corporation et al.

In this complaint, filed November 7, 2017 in federal court in Marshall, Texas, Lemaire has asserted three LED patents against Microsoft.

The asserted patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 6,095,661 (‘661 Patent), 6,488,390 (‘390 Patent) and 9,119,266 (‘266 Patent).

The ‘661 Patent is entitled “Method and apparatus for an L.E.D. flashlight” and the ‘390 Patent is entitled “Color-adjusted camera light and method” and these related patents are directed to an LED flashlight including  a control circuit for maintaining a predetermined light output level of the LED units as a charge on a battery varies.

The ‘266 Patent is entitled “Pulsed L.E.D. illumination apparatus and method” and directed to an illumination source for a camera including one or more LEDs and a control circuit for driving the LEDs with electrical pulses at a frequency high enough that light produced has an appearance to a human user of being continuous rather than pulsed.

The accused products are Microsoft Lumia 950 XL and Lumia 950 Single SIM smartphones.

Cree, Inc. v. Milwaukee Wholesale LLC et al.

Cree sued Milwaukee Wholesale December 28, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.

The complaint alleges that the defendants are selling knock-offs of Cree’s CPY 250 Canopy/Soffit luminaire.

The knock-offs allegedly infringe two design patents:  D721,844 and D743,084, each titled “Light fixture.” and infringe trade dress of Cree’s products.

General LED OpCo, LLC v. Pincipal LED, LLC

This lawsuit asserts U.S. Patent No., 9,702,531, entitled “Retrofit system and method for replacing linear fluorescent lamp with LED modules” (‘531 Patent).

Filed December 20, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, the complaint alleges that Defendant’s Tap Out, Slim Stik, and Street Stik linear fluorescent lighting products.

The ‘531 Patent is directed to a system for replacing linear fluorescent lamps with LED modules in a cabinet sign including an LED module support structure.  The LED module support structure may be attached to the raceways of the cabinet sign or to the sockets formerly used for mounting fluorescent lamps between the raceways.

Bluestone Innovations, LLC v. General Electric Company

Bluestone Innovations, LLC v. Cree, Inc.

Bluestone Innovations, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc.

In each of these lawsuits, Bluestone alleges infringement of  U.S. Patent No. 6,163,557 (‘557 Patent).

The ‘557 Patent is entitled “Fabrication of group III-V nitrides on mesas” and directed to group III-V nitride films fabricated on mesas patterned either on substrates such as sapphire substrates or on group III-V nitride layers grown on substrates. The mesas provide reduced area surfaces for epitaxially growing group III-V nitride films to reduce thermal film stresses in the films to minimize cracking.

All the lawsuits were filed in federal court in San Francisco, the complaint against Amazon (Bluestone Innovations LLC v. AMAZON.COM,INC.) on November 30, 2017 and the complaints against GE (Bluestone Innovations LLC v. General Electric Company) and Cree (Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Cree, Inc.) on December 4, 2017.

The complaints list as accused products various brands and models of LED lightbulbs with epitaxial film.

Smart Grid

Banertek LLC v. ecobee, Inc.

This lawsuit was filed November 17, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

Banertek alleges that ecobee infringes U.S. Patent No. 6,839,731, entitled “System and method for providing data communication in a device network” (‘731 Patent).

The ‘731 Patent is directed to a system and method for facilitating data communications in a device network.  The system and method includes premises-server computing devices, a central communication device, and a number of client computing devices. Each client computing device communicates with the central communication device to request access to device data from the premises-server computing devices. Once access rights are established, the client computing devices communicate directly with specific premises-server computing devices.

According to the complaint, ecobee provides systems with premises server computing devices in communication with devices such as room sensors, HVAC fans, etc., a central communication device such as the ecobee server, and a client computing device.

Solar Mounting Systems

Rillito River Solar LLC v. IronRidge Inc.

Rillito River Solar LLC v. Wencon Development Inc.

The IronRidge complaint, filed December 6, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, alleges infringement of two solar mounting system patents.

U.S. Patent Nos. 9,774,292 and 9,793,853 are entitled “Roofing grommet forming a seal between a roof-mounted structure and a roof” and directed to a roof mount assembly including a piece of flashing positioned on the substrate.  The flashing includes a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface and an aperture extending through the flashing.  A fastener extends through the flashing aperture, a bracket is connected to the flashing via the fastener, and a water-tight seal is positioned between the flashing aperture and the fastener.

The accused product is IronRidge’s FlashFoot 2 mounting system.

The Wencon complaint was filed November 22, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the Northern Distric of California and asserts infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,526,701 (‘701 Patent).

Entitled “Roof mount,” the ‘701 Patent is directed to a roof mount including a base member, an attachment mount, and a spacer extending the base member to a roof surface. The base member has a protrusion, and the attachment mount defines a hollowed region for receiving the protrusion to form a compression fitting.  A substantially leak proof assembly is formed when the attachment mount is placed against the base member with a sealing material therebetween.

There were many new green patent complaints filed in March and April in the areas of advanced batteries, fuel efficiency, green cleaning solvents, LEDs, smart grid, and solar power.

Advanced Batteries

Somaltus LLC v. Johnson Outdoors, Inc.

On March 14, 2017 Somaltus, a non-practicing entity, filed a patent infringement complaint against Johnson Outdoors in federal court in Marshall, Texas.

The lawsuit asserts U.S. Patent No. 7,657,386, entitled “Integrated battery service system (‘386 Patent).

The ‘386 Patent is  directed to an integrated battery service system that performs a plurality of services related to a battery, such as battery testing, battery charging, and the like. In addition, the integrated service system provides services to devices/components that are coupled to the battery, such as starters, alternators, etc.

The accused products are Minn Kota Digital Onboard Chargers.

Fuel Efficiency

Transtex LLC et al. v. WABCO Holdings Inc.

In this lawsuit involving aerodynamic trailer skirts for improving the efficiency of truck trailers, Transtex has asserted eight patents against WABCO.

The patents are as follows:

U.S. Patent No. 7,748,772, entitled “Resilient aerodynamic trailer skirts “

U.S. Patent No. 7,887,120, entitled “Aerodynamic trailer skirts”

U.S. Patent No. 7,942,467, entitled “Aerodynamic skirt support member”

U.S. Patent No. 7,942,469, entitled “Aerodynamic skirt panel”

U.S. Patent No. 7,942,471, entitled “Aerodynamic skirt shape”

U.S. Patent No. 8,292,351, entitled “Resilient strut for aerodynamic skirt”

U.S. Patent No. 8,449,017, entitled “Aerodynamic skirt resilient member”

U.S. Patent No. 8,678,474, entitled “Self-repositioning aerodynamic skirt”

The accused products are the TrailerSkirt TS248 and TS259 flat panel trailer skirts.

Green Cleaning Solvents

GreenEarth Cleaning, LLC v. Natomas Fresh Cleaners, Inc.

This action for patent infringement, trademark infringement, and breach of contract was filed April 18, 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

Although the complaint lists nine patents, there is only one count of patent infringement asserting U.S. Patent No. 5,942,007 (‘007 Patent).

The ‘007 Patent is entitled “Dry cleaning method and solvent” and directed to dry cleaning methods comprising the steps of immersing clothes in a dry cleaning fluid including a cyclic siloxane composition, agitating the clothes in the composition, and then removing the cyclic siloxane composition by centrifugal action and air circulation.

According to the Abstract of the ‘007 Patent, the “cyclic-siloxane-based solvent allows the system to result in an environmentally friendly process which is, also, more effective in cleaning fabrics and the like than any known prior system.”

GreenEarth alleges that Natomas Fresh, which had a license from GreenEarth, continues to use liquid silicone as a dry cleaning solvent though it is no longer a licensee.

LEDs

Document Security Systems, Inc. v. Seoul Semiconductor Co. et al.

Document Security Systems, Inc. v. Everlight Electronics Co. et al.

Document Security Systems, Inc. v. Cree, Inc.

In three lawsuits filed April 13, 2017 in federal court in Marshall, Texas, Document Security Systems has sued Seoul Semiconductor (Document Security Systems, Inc. v. Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. et al.), Everlight Electronics (Document Security Systems, Inc. v. Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. et al.), and Cree (Document Security Systems, Inc. v. Cree, Inc.).

The combination of asserted patents varies by suit but comprise the following:

U.S. Patent No. 6,949,771, entitled “Light source”

U.S. Patent No. 7,256,486, entitled “Packing device for semiconductor die, semiconductor device incorporating same and method of making same”

U.S. Patent No. 7,279,355, entitled “Method for fabricating a packing device for semiconductor die and semiconductor device incorporating same”

U.S. Patent No. 7,524,087, entitled “Optional Device”

U.S. Patent No. 7,919,787, entitled “Semiconductor device with a light emitting semiconductor die”

The accused products include LED devices for the automotive market.

Epistar Corporation v. Lowe’s Companies, Inc.

Epistar sued Lowe’s for patent infringement on April 28, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The patents-in-suit are:

U.S. Patent No. 6,346,771, entitled “High power LED lamp”

U.S. Patent No. 7,560,738, entitled “Light-emitting diode array having an adhesive layer”

U.S. Patent No. 8,791,467, entitled “Light emitting diode and method of making the same”

U.S. Patent No. 8,492,780, entitled “Light-emitting device and manufacturing method thereof”

U.S. Patent No. 8,587,020, entitled “LED Lamps”

According to the complaint, the Kichler Lighting 60 W equivalent dimmable bulb, the Utilitech 60 W equivalent warm white bulb and similar products infringe the patents.

Golight, Inc. v. KH Industries, Inc. et al.

Filed March 1, 2017 in the U.S.District Court for the District of Colorado, Golight’s lawsuit asserts U.S. Patent No. 9,255,687, entitled “LED system and housing for use with halogen light fixtures” (‘687 Patent).

The complaint alleges that KH’s LED NightRay line of lighting products infringes the ‘687 Patent.

The ‘687 Patent is directed to an optical projection lens for mounting in front of LEDs.  The lens has a plurality of protrusions of varying thickness wherein the outermost edges of each protrusion has the thickest measurement, the center of each protrusion has the thinnest measurement, and the protrusions merge individual beams of light into a single beam of light.

Lemaire Illumination Technologies, LLC v. LG Electronics USA, Inc. et al.

Lemaire Illumination Technologies sued LG for alleged infringement of three patents relating to LED lighting technology.

The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patent Nos. 6,095,661 (‘661 Patent), 6,488,390 (‘390 Patent) and 9,119,266 (‘266 Patent).

The ‘661 Patent is entitled “Method and apparatus for an L.E.D. flashlight” and the ‘390 Patent is entitled “Color-adjusted camera light and method” and these related patents are directed to an LED flashlight including  a control circuit for maintaining a predetermined light output level of the LED units as a charge on a battery varies.

The ‘266 Patent is entitled “Pulsed L.E.D. illumination apparatus and method” and directed to an illumination source for a camera including one or more LEDs and a control circuit for driving the LEDs with electrical pulses at a frequency high enough that light produced has an appearance to a human user of being continuous rather than pulsed.

Filed in federal court in Marshall, Texas on April 14, 2017, the complaint lists the LG G3 and G4 smartphones as accused devices.

Philips Lighting North America Corporation et al. v. Deco Enterprises, Inc.

In a lawsuit filed April 12, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Philips asserted five patents related to LED drivers and circuits against Deco.

The patents-in-suit are:

U.S. Patent No. 6,094,014, entitled “Circuit arrangement, and signaling light provided with the circuit arrangement”

U.S. Patent No. 6,586,890, entitled “LED driver circuit with PWM output”

U.S. Patent No. 7,038,399, entitled “Methods and apparatus for providing power to lighting devices”

U.S. Patent No. 7,262,559, entitled “LEDS driver”

U.S. Patent No. 8,070,328, entitled “LED downlight”

The accused devices listed in the complaint include the Lucera series surface-mounted LED lighting fixtures.

Putco, Inc. v. Metra Electronics

This lawsuit involves LED headlight technology.  Putco alleges that Metra’s Heise Lighting Ssystems LED headlight replacement kits infringe U.S. Patent No. 9,243,796, entitled “LED lamp with a flexible heat sink” (‘796 Patent).

The ‘796 Patent is directed to an LED lamp with a flexible heat sink and a method of installing the lamp into a light fixture.

The complaint was filed March 10, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa.

Blackbird Tech v. Civilight North America

Blackbird Tech v. Euri Lighting

Blackbird Tech v. Great Eagle Lighting

Blackbird Tech v. MSI Lighting

Blackbird Tech v. Satco Products

Blackbird Tech v. S.E.L.S.

Blackbird Tech initiated several new lawsuits April 19, 2017 in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

The asserted patent in these suits is U.S. Patent No. 7,114,834 (‘834 Patent).  Entitled “LED lighting apparatus,” the ‘834 Patent is directed to a light comprising a housing, a plurality of LED lights coupled in an array inside of the housing, and a reflective protrusion for reflecting light from the LED lights out of the housing.

The LED array receives a consistent flow of DC current that will not result in the LED lights burning out. To prevent the LED array from burning out there is also a current regulator for controlling a current flowing through this LED array.

The complaints can be found here: Blackbird Tech LLC v. Civilight North America Corp.; Blackbird Tech LLC v. Euri Lighting; Blackbird Tech LLC v. Great Eagle Lighting Corporation; Blackbird Tech LLC v. MSI Lighting, Inc.; Blackbird Tech LLC v. S.E.L.S. USA, LLC; Blackbird Tech LLC v. Satco Products, Inc..

Smart Grid

Clean Energy Management Solutions, LLC v. ABB Inc.

Clean Energy has asserted infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,577,962 (‘962 Patent).  The complaint was filed March 1, 2017 in federal court in Marshall, Texas and names ABB as the sole defendant.

Entitled “System and method for forecasting energy usage load,” the ‘962 Patent is directed to systems and methods for forecasting energy usage load for a facility including a parameter identification module for determining periodic energy load usage of the facility and a load prediction module for generating energy usage load forecast profiles for the facility.  A set of matrices may include a matrix for storing coefficients for determining periodic changes in energy load usage, and a model parameter matrix for storing load parameter information.

The accused product is ABB’s Energy Management Software with Energy Management and Optimization Solution.

Solar Power

Allsop, Inc. v. Ambient Lighting, Inc.

Allsop sued Ambient for alleged infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,657,461 and 8,192,044, both entitled “Solar-powered collapsible lighting apparatus” and directed to a solar-powered lighting apparatus having a light transmissible spherical shade coupled to a housing that receives a solar cell, a battery and at least a portion of a lighting element assembly.

The complaint was filed April 10, 2017 in federal court in Seattle.

The accused product are several models of Ambient’s collapsible lanterns, including the “Coastal Blues 12” solar lanterns.

Rillito River Solar LLC v. Ecolibrium Solar Inc.

Rillito River Solar sued Ecolibrium March 22, 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

The complaint alleges that Ecolibrium’s EcoX line of products infringe U.S. Patent No. 9,422,723, entitled “Roofing grommet forming a seal between a roof-mounted structure and a roof” (‘723 Patent).

The ‘723 Patent is directed to a roof mount assembly including a piece of flashing positioned on the substrate.  The flashing includes a first surface, a second surface opposite the first surface and an aperture extending through the flashing.  A fastener extends through the flashing aperture, a bracket is connected to the flashing via the fastener, and a water-tight seal is positioned between the flashing aperture and the fastener.

A number of new green patent complaints were filed in September and October in the fields of battery chargers, green cleaning products, LEDs, smart grid, solar mounting systems, and water conservation.

Battery Chargers

VoltStar Technologies, Inc. v. AT&T Mobility, LLC

VoltStar sued AT&T October 19, 2016 alleging infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 7,910,833 (‘833 Patent) and 7,910,834 (‘834 Patent) relating to an energy saving power adapter/charger and accompanying cables.

The ‘833 Patent is entitled “Energy-saving power adapter/charger” and the ‘834 Patent is entitled “Energy saving cable assemblies.”   According to the complaint, the patents pertain to a battery charger and accompanying cables “that automatically shuts off when a device is fully charged or not plugged in, eliminating ‘vampire load.’ This feature reduces power consumption and extends battery life.”

The accused product is the AT&T ZERO Charger and accompanying cables..

Green Cleaning Products

Greenology Products, Inc. v. HealthPro Brands Inc.

A North Carolina company called Greenology Products sued HealthPro Brands in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

Filed September 13, 2016, the complaint alleges that HealthPro’s FIT Organic cleaning products infringe U.S. Patent No. 9,217,127, entitled “Organic cleaning composition” (‘127 Patent).

The ‘127 Patent is directed to an organic cleaning mixture comprising from about five percent (5%) to about ninety five percent (95%) by weight soapberry extract, from about 0.1% to about 95% percent (95%) by weight saponified oil, and from about 0.5% to about thirty percent (30%) by weight of one or more of sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, an alkali, and combinations thereof.

LEDs

Seoul Semiconductor Co. et al. v. K-mart Corporation

In a lawsuit filed September 9, 2016 in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Seoul sued K-mart for infringement of eight LED patents:

U.S. Patent No. 6,942,731, entitled “Method for improving the efficiency of epitaxially produced quantum dot semiconductor components”

U.S. Patent No 6,942,731, entitled “Method for improving the efficiency of epitaxially produced quantum dot semiconductor components”

U.S. Patent No. 7,982,207, entitled “Light emitting diode”

U.S. Patent No. 7,626,209, entitled “Light emitting diode having active region of multi quantum well structure”

U.S. Patent No. 7,906,789, entitled “Warm white light emitting apparatus and back light module comprising the same”

U.S. Patent No. 7,951,626, entitled “Light emitting device and method of manufacturing the same”

U.S. Patent No. 8,664,638, entitled “Light-emitting diode having an interlayer with high voltage density and method for manufacturing the same”

U.S. Patent No. 8,860,331, entitled “Light emitting device for AC power operation”

U.S. Patent No. 9,240,529, entitled “Textured phosphor conversion layer light emitting diode”

The accused product is Spotlight’s Kodak LED Lighting Bulb 41063,

ilumisys, Inc. v. Woodforest Lighting Inc.

This lawsuit involves eleven patents relating to tubular LED replacements for fluorescent lighting tubes.

The complaint was filed September 15, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and accuses Forest’s MT8-120 and Univ8 TLED products of infringing the following patents:

U.S. Patent No. 8,093,823, entitled “Light sources incorporating light emitting diodes”

U.S. Patent No. 8,382,327, entitled “Light tube and power supply circuit”

U.S. Patent No. 7,976,196, entitled “Method of forming LED-based light and resulting LED-based light”

U.S. Patent No. 9,072,171,  entitled “Circuit board mount for LED light”

U.S. Patent No. 7,815,338,  entitled “LED lighting unit including elongated heat sink and elongated lens”

U.S. Patent No. 9,006,993,  entitled “Light tube and power supply circuit”

U.S. Patent No. 9,222,626,  entitled “Light tube and power supply circuit”

U.S. Patent No. 8,866,396,  entitled “Light tube and power supply circuit”

U.S. Patent No. 7,510,299,  entitled “LED lighting device for replacing fluorescent tubes”

U.S. Patent No. 8,282,247,  entitled “Method of forming LED-based light and resulting LED-based light”

U.S. Patent No. 8,573,813,  entitled “LED-based light with supported heat sink”

Orion Energy Systems, Inc. v. Energy Bank, Inc.

Orion Energy Systems, Inc. v. Green Creative LLC

In a complaint filed September 18, 2016 in federal court in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Orion Energy Systems (Orion) asserted two related lighting patents against Energy Bank.

The patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 8,337,043 and 8,858,018, each entitled “Modular light fixture with power pack” and directed to light fixtures including first and second raceways, a support structure extending between and coupled to the raceways, a plurality of LEDs coupled to the structure and spaced apart, and a power pack  electrically coupled to the LEDs.

The accused products are Energy Bank’s LightSource light.

Orion brought another lawsuit, this one against Green Creative, alleging that the defendant’s 2X2′ and 2X4′ LED Troffer Retrofit Kits infringe U.S. Patent No. 9,206,948, entitled “Troffer light fixture retrofit systems and methods.”

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on September 30, 2016.

Jakuta Diodes, LLC v. Cree, Inc.

Jakuta Diodes, LLC v. American Honda Motor Co.

Jakuta Diodes, LLC v. Acuity Brands, Inc.

Jakuta Diodes, LLC v. Ford Motor Company

Jakuta Diodes, LLC v. General Motors Company

Jakuta Diodes, LLC v. Ledengin, inc.

Jakuta Diodes, LLC v. Soraa, Inc.

Jakuta Diodes, LLC v. Teledyne Reynolds, Inc.

Jakuta Diodes filed eight lawsuits on September 21, 2016 against a bunch of defendants including LED makers Acuity Brands, Cree, Ledengin, Soraa, and Teledyne Reynolds and automakers Honda, Ford and GM.

The complaints were all filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas and all assert the same patent – U.S. Patent No. 6,079,854 (‘854 Patent).

The ‘854 Patent is entitled “Device and method for diffusing light” and directed to a lighting device to diffuse a beam of light such as a main light beam in a headlamp, thereby substantially reducing the glare experienced by oncoming drivers and permitting high beams of the headlamp to be used in the presence of the oncoming drivers.

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. DAMAR Worldwide 4 LLC

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. EiKo Global, LLC

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. Halco Lighting Technologies, LLC

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. Health in Motion LLC et al.

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. Hyperikon, Inc.

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. Innoled Lighting Inc.

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. LEDi2, Inc. et al.

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. RemPhos Technologies LLC

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. Tadd, LLC

Blackbird Tech, LLC v. LLC Espen Technology Inc.

Not to be outdone, Blackbird fired off ten complaints in Delaware federal court October 19, 2016.

Each complaint asserted U.S. Patent No. 7,086,747, entitled “Low-voltage apparatus for satisfying after-hours light requirements, emergency light requirements, and low light requirements” (‘747 Patent).

The ‘747 Patent is directed to an energy efficient lighting apparatus wherein the circuit board is positioned adjacent the ballast cover so that the plurality of light-emitting diodes protrude through the plurality of ballast cover holes in the ballast cover, the lighting apparatus is coupled to a wall switch, and the illumination of the light-emitting diodes is controllable based upon the position of the wall switch.

The Innoled Lighting complaint is representative and says the defendant is infringing the ‘747 Patent by selling linear LED lighting products.

Lexington Luminance LLC v. LG Electronics et al.

In a complaint filed October 27, 2016 in U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Lexington Luminance accused LG of infringing U.S. Patent No. 6,936,851 (‘851 Patent).

The ‘851 Patent is entitled “Semiconductor light-emitting device and method for manufacturing the same” and is directed to LEDs having textured districts on the substrate such that inclined layers guide extended defects to designated gettering centers in the trench region where the defects combine with each other.  This structure reduces the defect density of the LEDs.

The accused products include various televisions, computer displays, mobile phones, and other electronic devices using LED illuminated LCD displays.

CAO Lighting, Inc. v. Light Efficient Design et al.

CAO Lighting brought an infringement action (cao-lighting-inc-v-light-efficient-design-et-al) against Light Efficient Design in federal court in Idaho on October 28, 2016.

CAO alleges infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,465,961 (‘961 Patent), entitled “Semiconductor light source using a heat sink with a plurality of panels” and directed to an LED light source with a heat sink that has multiple panels.  Each panel may host one or more LED chips, which can be arranged to transmit light in multiple directions.  More details on this patent can found in my previous post here.

The accused products include the 8000 Series lighting products such as the LED-8039E57 bulb and LED-8024E retrofit product.

Smart Grid

Grid Innovations, LLC v. The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas

GRID Innovations sued the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) for alleged infringement of two patents relating to trading and routing electric power.

The complaint was filed September 2, 2016 in federal court in Tyler, Texas and accuses ERCOT’s electric power trade and distribution systems, specifically the day-ahead and real-time energy markets of infringing the patents.

The asserted patents are U.S. Patent No. 7,945,502 (‘502 Patent) and 9,256,905 (‘905 Patent).

The ‘502 Patent is entitled “Online trading and dynamic routing of electric power among electric service providers” and directed to a method and system for trading electric power on a spot market and dynamically matching bids and asks and routing the electric power in accordance with the matches to effect the settled trades.

The ‘905 Patent is entitled “Intelligent routing of electric power” and directed to a method and system for dynamically routing electric power in real time in accordance with parameters submitted by buyers and sellers of electric power using a feedback control scheme.

Clean Energy Management Solutions, LLC v. Cascade Energy, Inc.

Clean Energy Management Solutions, LLC v. Schneider Electric USA, Inc.

Clean Energy Management Solutions, LLC v. Siemens Corporation

Clean Energy Management Solutions, LLC v. SmartLabs, Inc.

Clean Energy Management Solutions, LLC v. Wink Inc. et al.

Clean Energy Management Solutions (CEMS) filed three complaints on September 6, 2016 in federal court in Marshall, Texas asserting U.S. Patent No. 6,577,962 against Cascade Energy, Schneider Electric, and Siemens (Cascade Energy complaint; Schneider Electric complaint; Siemens complaint; SmartLabs complaint; Wink complaint).

Entitled “System and method for forecasting energy usage load,” the ‘962 Patent is directed to systems and methods for forecasting energy usage load for a facility including a parameter identification module for determining periodic energy load usage of the facility and a load prediction module for generating energy usage load forecast profiles for the facility.  A set of matrices may include a matrix for storing coefficients for determining periodic changes in energy load usage, and a model parameter matrix for storing load parameter information.

The accused products are Cascade Energy’s SENSEI system, Schneider’s PowerLogic ION EEM system, and Siemens’ SIMATIC B.Data system.

On October 28th and 31st, respectively, CEMS also sued SmartLabs and Wink in the same court, alleging that SmartLabs’ Insteon home automation system and Wink’s home security and automation system infringe U.S. Patent No. 8,035,479 (‘479 Patent).

The ‘479 Patent is entitled “Mesh network door lock” and relates to systems and methods for sending a code from a mesh network key and wirelessly communicating the code with one or more mesh network appliances over a mesh network such as ZigBee, receiving the code over the mesh network by a mesh network lock controller, and providing access to the secured area upon authenticating the code.

JSDQ Mesh Technologies LLC v. S & C Electric Company

On October 20, 2016, JSDQ filed suit against S & C Electric Company in U.S. District Court for the Norther District of Illinois, alleging infringement of four patents relating to wireless routing systems used in smart grid networks.

The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,286,828 and 7,916,648, both entitled “Method of Call Routing and Connection,” RE43,675 entitled “Wireless Radio Routing System,” and RE44,607entitled, “Wireless Mesh Routing Method.”

JSDQ alleges that S& C Electric infringes the patents-in-suit because of its deployment of the SpeedNet Radio Networks.

Solar Mounting Systems

Rillito River Solar, LLC v. Wencon Development, Inc.

Rillito River Solar sued Wencon September 23, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

The complaint alleges that Wencon’s Quick Mount roof mounting system infringes three patents relating to solar mounting systems.

The asserted patents are U.S. Patent Nos. 6,526,701, entitled “Roof mount,” 9,010,038, entitled “Tile roof mount” and 9,422,723, entitled “Roofing grommet forming a seal between a roof-mounted structure and a roof.”

Water Conservation

Water Conservation Technology Int’l v. Roseburg Forest Products Co. et al.

This lawsuit involves five related patents pertaining to technologies for treating water in an environmentally friendly matter.

The patents are:

U.S. Patent No. 6,929,749, entitled “Cooling water scale and corrosion inhibition”

U.S. Patent No. 6,949,193, entitled “Cooling water scale and corrosion inhibition”

U.S. Patent No. 6,998,092, entitled “Cooling water scale and corrosion inhibition”

U.S. Patent No. 7,122,148, entitled “Cooling water scale and corrosion inhibition”

U.S. Patent No. 7,517,493, entitled “Cooling water corrosion inhibition method”

The complaint was filed by Water Conservation Technologies International (WCTI) September 9, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

WCTI alleges that the defendant continues to use the patented technologies for treating a cooling tower at defendant’s biomass cogeneration plant after termination of a contract between the parties.

A prior post reported on the litigation between Electric Power Group (EPG) and Alstom Grid.

The lawsuit, filed in the Central District of California, alleged that Alstom’s “PhasorPoint” and “e-terravision” solutions infringed U.S. Patent Nos. 8,060,259, 7,233,843, and 8,401,710 (EPG Patents).

The EPG Patents relate to wide-area real-time performance monitoring systems for monitoring and assessing dynamic stability of an electric power grid.

More particularly, the patents describe and claim systems and methods for performing real-time performance monitoring of an electric power grid by collecting data from multiple data sources, analyzing the data, and displaying the results.

In an opinion issued earlier this month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit held the EPG Patents invalid under Section 101 of the Patent Act for failing the test for patent eligibility.  The decision affirmed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment.

Section 101 defines the subject matter eligible for patenting and, according to the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, “contains an important implicit exception:  Laws of natural phenomena, and abstract ideas are not patentable” concepts.

Alice set out a two-stage Section 101 inquiry for determining patent eligibility.  Stage one asks whether a patent claim is directed to one of the three non-patent eligible concepts.

If so, at stage two, the court asks whether the particular elements of the claim add enough to “transform the nature of the claim into a patent-eligible application.”

According to the Federal Circuit, because the claims of the EPG Patents are directed to collecting and analyzing information and displaying certain results of the collection and analysis, they “fall into a familiar class of claims ‘directed to” a patent-ineligible concept.”

More particularly, information is an intangible, and collecting information is an abstract idea:

[W]e have treated collecting information, including when limited to particular content (which does not change its character as information), as within the realm of abstract ideas.

Furthermore, the court found the patents’ improvement of focusing on specific content to be collected and analyzed not sufficiently innovative:

The advance [the EPG Patents] purport to make is a process of gathering and analyzing information of a specified content, then displaying the results, and not any particular assertedly inventive technology for performing those functions.  They are therefore directed to an abstract idea.

Turning to stage two of the Alice framework, the Federal Circuit did not find anything added to the claims or any limitations that would remove them from the realm of abstract ideas and make them patent-eligible.  Limiting them to the power-grid monitoring space was not enough:

Most obviously, limiting the claims to the particular technological environment of power-grid monitoring is, without more, insufficient to transform them into patent-eligible applications of the abstract idea at their core.

Much of the content of the claims of the EPG Patents, the court observed, was “devoted to enumerating types of information and information sources available within the power-grid environment.”  Merely selecting that information does not “differentiate a process from ordinary mental processes.”

According to the court, the claims did not require any inventive set of components or methods, such as measurement devices or techniques, do not generate new data, and do not invoke any inventive programming.  They also do not require anything other than off-the-shelf, conventional computer network and display technology.

Thus, the court held that the EPG Patent claims “do not state an arguably inventive concept in the realm of application of the information-based abstract ideas” and are therefore invalid.

The Federal Circuit closed its opinion with some tough words from the district court about the EPG Patents that allude to a public policy rationale for invalidating the patents:

[R]ather than claiming “some specific way of enabling a computer to monitor data from multiple sources across an electric power grid,” some “particular implementation,” they “purport to monopolize every potential solution to the problem” – any way of effectively monitoring multiple sources on a power grid.

Some might say that alone is reason to invalidate the patents.

Once in a long while a green patent lawsuit comes along that has the potential to have a major impact on a clean technology sector.

A few that come to mind are GE’s litigation with Mitsubishi involving, among others, U.S. Patent No. 5,083,039, a seminal patent on variable speed wind technology, Paice’s epic battle with Toyota over the hybrid vehicle technology used in the Prius, and the biofuels patent litigation between BP-DuPont joint venture Butamax and the advanced biofuels company Gevo.

We may have witnessed another one this summer, with the announcement last month by Dominion Voltage, Inc. (Dominion) that a jury found Alstom Grid infringed a Dominion patent relating to voltage reduction in advanced metering infrastructure.

Dominion filed an infringement complaint against Alstom Grid in January 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The asserted patents were U.S. Patent Nos. 8,577,510 and 8,437,883 (‘883 Patent), related patents each entitled “Voltage conservation using advanced metering infrastructure and substation centralized voltage control.”

The patents, one a continuation of the other, are directed to voltage control and energy conservation systems where a plurality of sensors sense voltages of the supplied electric power at distribution locations and generate measurement data based on the sensed voltages.

A voltage controller generates an energy delivery parameter based on a comparison of the measurement data received from the sensors to a controller target voltage band, and a voltage adjusting device adjusts a voltage of the electric power supplied at the supply point based on the energy delivery parameter.

If that concept seems broad to you, it is, and the folks at Greentech Media thought so too.  In this piece reporting on the lawsuit, GTM said the asserted Dominion patents “appear to hold pretty broad claim over the very idea of using distributed sensors for grid voltage management.”

According to GTM, the patented technology is embodied in Dominion’s commercial products and is pervasive in the smart meter industry today:

That’s the technology behind DVI’s EDGE control platform, now in use by utilities across the country, and using smart meters and networks from a list of vendor partners including Silver Spring Networks, Elster and Landis+Gyr.

And now at least one of the major commercial users of the technology has been found to infringe of the patents.  According to the Dominion press release, the jury in the lawsuit returned a verdict of infringement, finding the ‘883 patent valid and infringed by Alstom Grid (now owned by GE).

The jury also found that Alstom “induced infringement through the installation of its distribution management system at a customer location.”

Dominion is likely to seek an injunction to stop Alstom Grid from installing and using the infringing products.  However, these cases more often result in a license negotiated by the parties including some sort of royalty payment.

In any event, Dominion is now in a very strong position in the smart meter-enabled grid voltage control space.  According to GTM, which covered the jury verdict here, the company is the U.S. leader in this market and now “has a jury verdict to protect the technology behind that market dominance.”

March and April saw a big uptick in green patent lawsuits filed, mostly driven by LED actions.  The suits were in the areas of energy storage, LEDs, and smart grid.

Energy Storage

Praxair, Inv. v. Air Liquide Large Industries U.S. LP

Connecticut based Praxair sued rival Air Liquide for infringement of a patent relating to underground hydrogen storage.

Filed in federal court in Beaumont, Texas, the complaint alleges that Air Liquide’s operation of its Spindletop hydrogen storage cavern infringes U.S. Patent No. 8,690,476 (‘476 Patent).

The ‘476 Patent is entitled “Method and system for storing hydrogen in a salt cavern with a permeation barrier” and directed to a method and system for storing high purity hydrogen in a salt cavern without seepage or leakage by creating a permeation barrier along the salt cavern walls.

LEDs

Lighting Science Group Corporation v. Nicor, Inc.

Lighting Science Group Corporation v. Globalux Lighting LLC

Lighting Science Group Corporation v. EEL Company 

Lighting Science Group Corporation v. Panor Corporation

Lighting Science Group Corporation v. S E L S, Inc.

Lighting Science Group Corporation v. Sunco Lighting, Inc.

Lighting Science Group (LSG) continued its patent enforcement activity, filing six new infringement lawsuits, all in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.

The complaint against Nicor was filed March 10, 2016.  The rest were filed on April 21, 2016 against Globalux Lighting (Lighting Science Group Corporation v. Globalux Lighting LLC), EEL Company (Lighting Science Group Corporation v. EEL Company, Ltd.), Panor Corporation (Lighting Science Group Corporation v. Panor Corporation), S E L S (Lighting Science Group Corporation v. S E L S, Inc.), and Sunco Lighting (Lighting Science Group Corporation v. Sunco Lighting, Inc.).

Each complaint asserts at least two of the following patents:  U.S. Patent No. 8,201,968 (‘968 Patent), U.S. Patent No. 8,967,844 (‘844 Patent), and U.S. Patent No. 8,672,518 (‘518 Patent).

Entitled “Low profile light,” the ’968 Patent is directed to a luminaire including a heat spreader and a heat sink disposed outboard of the heat spreader, an outer optic securely retained relative to the heat spreader and/or the heat sink, and an LED light source.

The ‘518 Patent and the’ 844 Patent are entitled “Low profile light and accessory kit for the same” and relate to LSG’s disc light LED devices.

Fiber Optic Designs, Inc. v. Holidynamics, Inc. et al.

Fiber Optic Designs (FOD) sued Holidynamics and Anewalt’s Lawn & Landscape March 10, 2016 in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The complaint alleges that Holidynamics’ M8, C6, T5, and 5MM (WA) LED Light Sets infringe three FOD patents relating to LED light strings.

The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,220,022 (‘022 Patent) and 7,934,852 (‘852 Patent) both entitled “Jacketed LED assemblies and light strings containing the same,” as well as U.S. Patent No. 7,377,802, entitled “Plug and cord connector set with integrated circuitry” (‘802 Patent).

The ‘022 and ‘852 Patents are directed to jacketed light emitting diode assemblies and a waterproof light string including an electrical wire set connected to positive and negative contacts.  A light transmissive cover receives the lens body, and an integrally molded plastic jacket at the opening of the light transmissive cover provides a seal against moisture and airborne contaminants.

The ‘802 Patent is directed to a combination connector assembly and LED lighting chain that includes integrated circuitry for use with decorative lighting products. The integrated circuitry serves to reduce or limit current, provide full-wave AC to DC rectification, provide overload protection, reduce voltage, protect against voltage spikes, and add blinking or flashing functions.

Seoul Viosys Co. v. Salon Supply Store LLC

On March 18, 2016, Seoul Viosys filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Salon Supply Store in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The complaint asserted five LED patents:

U.S. Patent No. 8,168,988, entitled “Light emitting element with a plurality of cells bonded, method of manufacturing the same, and light emitting device using the same”

U.S. Patent No. 7,982,207, entitled “Light emitting diode”

U.S. Patent No. 9,041,032, entitled “Light emitting diode having strain-enhanced well layer”

U.S. Patent No. 9,224,935, entitled “Light emitting diode package”

U.S. Patent No. 8,680,559, entitled “Light emitting diode having electrode extensions for current spreading”

The accused products include Salon’s Edge Medium Round LED Curing Lamp MAN-LED-TP27 and the 18W Salon Edge Curing Lamp Dryer Timer MAN-LED-TP35B.

Nichia Corporation v. Vizio, Inc. (E.D. Tex.)

Nichia Corporation v. Vizio, Inc. (C.D. Cal.)

Nichia filed two infringement suits against Vizio in March, one in the Eastern District of Texas, the other in the Central District of California.  In both cases, the technology at issue is LED-backlit televisions.

The Texas complaint, filed March 21, 2016, asserted U.S. Patent No. 8,530,250, entitled “Light emitting device, resin package, resin-molded body, and methods for manufacturing light emitting device, resin package and resin-molded body.”

The accused product is Vizio’s D-Series 28″ Class Full-Array LED TV D28h-C1.

The California complaint was filed on March 23rd and asserted four patents:

U.S. Patent No. 7,901,959, entitled “Liquid crystal display and back light having a light emitting diode”

U.S. Patent No. 7,915,631, entitled “Light emitting device and display”

U.S. Patent No. 8,309,375, entitled “Light emitting device and display”

U.S. Patent No. 7,855,092, entitled “Device for emitting white-color light”

The accused products are Vizio’s D-Series 28″ Class Full-Array LED TV D28h-C1 and E-Series 60″ Class Full Array LED Smart Television E60-C3.

LEDsON et al. v. Vision Light Worx, Inc.

In an action for design patent infringement, LEDsON sued Vision Light Worx on March 23, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The patents-in-suit are:

U.S. Design Patent No. D651,739, entitled “Extrusion for LED-based lighting apparatus”

U.S. Design Patent No. D649,683, entitled “Extrusion for LED-based lighting apparatus”

U.S. Design Patent No. D649,684, entitled “Extrusion for LED-based lighting apparatus”

U.S. Design Patent No. D649,680, entitled “Extrusion for light emitting diode based lighting apparatus”

U.S. Design Patent No. D649,681, entitled “Extrusion for LED-based lighting apparatus”

U.S. Design Patent No. D649,682, entitled “Extrusion for LED-based lighting apparatus”

Ultravision Technologies, LLC v. Lamar Advertising Company et al.

In this lawsuit, Ultravision asserted four LED patents against Lamar Advertising and related companies as well as Irvin International.

Filed in federal court in Marshall, Texas on April 7, 2016, the complaint alleges that Lamar’s billboards and other outdoor advertising structures infringe the following patents:

U.S. Patent No. 8,870,410, entitled “Optical panel for LED light source”

U.S. Patent No. 8,870,413, entitled “Optical panel for LED light source”

U.S. Patent No. 9,212,803, entitled “LED light assembly with three-part lens”

U.S. Patent No. 9,234,642, entitled “Billboard with light assembly for substantially uniform illumination”

In addition to patent infringement, Ultravision asserts claims for breach of contract and misappropriation of trade secrets.

Tseng v. Skechers U.S.A., Inc.

An individual, Shen Ko Tseng, sued Skechers for alleged infringement of a patent relating to circuits for electronically controlling multiple LEDs and causing the LEDs to flash in predetermined lighting patterns.

The patent-in-suit is U.S. Patent No. 7,500,761, entitled “Circuit device for controlling a plurality of light-emitting devices in a sequence” (‘761 Patent).

The complaint alleges that certain Skechers LED illuminated shoes, including the Magic Lites line of footwear, infringe the ‘761 Patent.

RAB Lighting Inc. v. ABB Lighting, Inc. et al.

In another (mostly) design patent infringement suit, RAB has accused ABB, GenerPower, and GP Energy of infringing eight LED lighting design patents and one utility patent.

The asserted patents are:

U.S. Patent No. D547,484, entitled “Light fixture”

U.S. Patent No. D569,029, entitled “Light fixture”

U.S. Patent No. D691,320, entitled “Slim wallpack light fixture”

U.S. Patent No. D690,453, entitled “High bay LED light fixture”

U.S. Patent No. D579,141, entitled “Area light”

U.S. Patent No. D612,975, entitled “Square step light”

U.S. Patent No. D643,147, entitled “LED flood light”

U.S. Patent No. D747,534, entitled “Canopy LED light fixture with fins”

U.S. Patent No. 9,273,863, entitled “Light fixture with airflow passage separating driver and emitter”

The accused products include, inter alia, the LED Parking Garage Light, LED Canopy Light, LED Security Light, LED Slim Wall Light, and LED Wall Pack.

Lynk Labs, Inc. v. Schneider Electric USA

Filed April 25, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Lynk Labs’ complaint alleges that Schneider Electric is infringing three patents relating to LED circuits and drivers.

Specifically, Lynk Labs asserts infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 8,148,905 (‘905 Patent) and 8,531,118 (‘118 Patent), both entitled “AC light emitting diode and AC LED drive methods and apparatus,” and 8,841,855, entitled “LED circuits and assemblies” (‘855 Patent).

The accused products are the Low Voltage Trac Systems manufactured and sold by Schneider and a company called Juno Lighting, which Lynk Labs sued separately for infringement last year.

Smart Grid

Endeavor MeshTech, Inc. v. Ericsson, Inc. et al.

Endeavor MeshTech (a wholly-owned subsidiary of patent monetization firm Endeavor IP) sued Ericsson in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on March 24, 2016.

The complaint accuses Ericsson of infringing three patents in a family – U.S. Patent Nos. 7,379,981 (‘981 Patent),  8,700,749 (‘749 Patent), and 8,855,019 (‘019 Patent), each entitled “Wireless communication enabled meter and network.”

The patents-in-suit relate to a self-configuring wireless network including a number of vnodes and VGATES.

The accused products and services are Ericsson’s SGN 3200 family of communication products including the SGN 3200 Smart Grid Node, the SGN 3260 Smart Grid Indoor Mini Node, the SGN 3280, Smart Grid Micro Node, the Smart Grid Node Manager, and the Smart Grid Node Manager Single Server.

Smart Meter Technologies, Inc. v. Duke Energy Corporation

Filed March 31, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, in this lawsuit (Smart Meter Technologies, Inc. v. Duke Energy Corporation) Smart Meter Technologies accuses Duke Energy of infringing U.S. Patent No. 7,058,524 (‘524 Patent) by distributing and installing advanced power meters.

The ‘524 Patent is entitled “Electrical power metering system” and directed to a wireless electrical power metering system including a processor having a multichannel power line transceiver, a wireless transceiver, and a power meter which measures power consumption information on a power line inductively coupled with the power meter.

The processor converts the power consumption information into IP-based data, and transmits same over the wireless transceiver to a remote monitoring station or across the internet for storage, analysis, and billing. The processor generates appliance control signals and generates same across the multichannel power line transceiver to remotely control appliances in response to power consumption trends.

Varentec, Inc. v. GridCo, Inc.

Varentec filed a patent infringement suit against GridCo on April 1, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

The complaint alleges that GridCo’s SVC power management products infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 9,293,922 (‘922 Patent) and 9,014,867 (‘867 Patent).

The ‘922 and ‘867 Patents are entitled “Systems and methods for edge of network voltage control of a power grid” and directed to systems comprising a distribution power network, a plurality of loads, and a plurality of shunt-connected, switch-controlled VAR sources.  The shunt-connected, switch-controlled VAR sources may be located at the edge or near the edge of the distribution power network where they may each detect a proximate voltage.

The processor may be configured to enable the VAR source to determine whether to enable a VAR compensation component based on the proximate voltage and to adjust network volt-ampere reactive by controlling a switch to enable the VAR compensation component.

A number of new patent infringement lawsuits were filed in January and February in the areas of electric vehicle charging, LEDS, smart grid, and solar battery phone cases.

Electric Vehicle Charging

Technology for Energy Corporation v. Hardy et al.

In a lawsuit against a former employee, Technology for Energy alleges various breach of contract claims, breach of an employment agreement, and requests a declaratory judgment of patent invalidity and unenforceability.  The complaint was filed February 22, 2016 in federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The patent at issue is U.S. Patent No. 9,020,771, entitled “Devices and methods for testing the energy measurement accuracy, billing accuracy, functional performance and safety of electric vehicle charging stations” (‘771 Patent).

The ‘771 Patent is directed to an instrument for testing electric vehicle charging stations (EVCS).  Energy delivery from the EVCS to the load is monitored by the instrument to determine energy measurement and billing accuracy of the EVCS.

LEDs

Harvatek Corporation v. Cree, Inc.

This is the third lawsuit between these two LED makers involving white LED lighting technology (see previous posts here and here).

Filed January 26, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Harvatek’s complaint accuses Cree of infringing U.S. Patent No. 6,841,934 (‘934 Patent).

The ‘934 Patent is entitled “White light source from light emitting diode” and is directed to an LED white light source that emits short wavelength color light.  The LED has a split metal substrate and a fluorescent glue that covers the LED chip and converts the short wavelength color light into white light.

Harvatek alleges that Cree’s CLM1 Series LED products infringement the ‘934 Patent.

Lighting Science Group Corporation v. Sea Gull Lighting Products LLC et al.

Lighting Science Group Corporation v. Hyperikon, Inc.

Lighting Science Group Corporation v. U.S.A. Light & Electric, Inc.

Lighting Science Group (LSG) filed three patent infringement lawsuits in late February, all in federal court in Orlando.

The complaint against Sea Gull was filed February 25, 2016 and asserts U.S. Patent No. 8,201,968 (‘968 Patent) and U.S. Patent No. 8,967,844 (‘844 Patent).  The accused products are Sea Gull’s Traverse Collection and Traverse II Collection products.

The complaint against Hyperikon was filed February 26, 2016 and alleges that Hyperikon’s LED Downlight products infringe the ‘844 Patent and U.S. Patent No. 8,672,518 (‘518 Patent).

Also filed February 26, 2016, the complaint against U.S.A. Light & Electric asserts the ‘968, ‘844, and ‘518 Patents and alleges that the defendant’s Recessed LED Downlight products infringe the patents-in-suit.

Entitled “Low profile light,” the ’968 Patent is directed to a luminaire including a heat spreader and a heat sink disposed outboard of the heat spreader, an outer optic securely retained relative to the heat spreader and/or the heat sink, and an LED light source.

The ‘518 Patent and the’ 844 Patent are entitled “Low profile light and accessory kit for the same” and relate to LSG’s disc light LED devices.

Lexington Luminance LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co. et al.

In a complaint filed February 25, 2016 in federal court in Marshall, Texas, Lexington Luminance accused Samsung of infringing U.S. Patent No. 6,936,851 (‘851 Patent).

The ‘851 Patent is entitled “Semiconductor light-emitting device and method for manufacturing the same” and is directed to LEDs having textured districts on the substrate such that inclined layers guide extended defects to designated gettering centers in the trench region where the defects combine with each other.  This structure reduces the defect density of the LEDs.

The complaint lists a host of Samsung products including a number of Galaxy smartphones.

Smart Grid

Endeavor MeshTech, Inc. v. Rajant Corporation

Endeavor MeshTech (a wholly-owned subsidiary of patent monetization firm Endeavor IP) sued Rajant in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on January 4, 2016.

The complaint accuses Rajant of infringing three patents in a family – U.S. Patent Nos. 7,379,981 (‘981 Patent),  8,700,749 (‘749 Patent), and 8,855,019 (‘019 Patent), each entitled “Wireless communication enabled meter and network.”

The patents-in-suit relate to a self-configuring wireless network including a number of vnodes and VGATES.

The accused products and services include Rajant’s BreadCrumb Wireless Nodes, InstaMesh Networking Technology, CacheCrumb, and Mesh Antennas.

Dipl.-In. H. Horstmann GmbH v. Smart Grid Solutions, Inc.

Horstman, a German company, filed this lawsuit against Smart Grid Solutions (SGS) in federal court in Atlanta, Georgia.

Filed on January 12, 2016, the complaint accuses SGS of trade dress infringement and various deceptive trade practices, as well as infringement of U.S. Patent No. D578,478 (‘478 Patent), a design patent entitled “Fiber optic cable.”

The ‘478 Patent protects Horstmann’s fiber optic cable design with each end including a semi-transparent curved end attached to the cable and a ribbed segment terminating at a flange.

Horstman alleges that SGS’s E-Scout FI-3C Underground Fault Indicator product infringes the ‘478 Patent.

JSDQ Mesh Technologies LLC v. Teco Energy, Inc. et al.

On February 2, 2016, JSDQ filed suit against Teco Energy and Tampa Electric Company, alleging infringement of four patents relating to wireless routing systems used in smart grid networks.

The patents-in-suit are U.S. Patent Nos. 7,286,828 and 7,916,648, both entitled “Method of Call Routing and Connection,” RE43,675 entitled “Wireless Radio Routing System,” and RE44,607 entitled, “Wireless Mesh Routing Method.”

JSDQ alleges that Teco and Tampa Electric infringe the patents-in-suit because of their deployment of wireless mesh networking systems that incorporate Trilliant’s SecureMesh broadband mesh network.

JSDQ filed a similar infringement suit against Silver Spring and Pepco in September last year.

Solar Battery Phone Cases

iPowerUp Inc. v. Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc.

iPowerUp sued Ascent Solar Technologies (AST) for alleged infringement of two patents relating to solar battery charging cases for mobile phones.

The complaint was filed February 12, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

The asserted patents are U.S. Patent No. 8,080,975, entitled “Portable and universal hybrid-charging apparatus for portable electronic devices” (‘975 Patent) and U.S. Patent No. 8,604,753, entitled “Method of distributing to a user a remedy for inadequate battery life in a handheld device” (‘753 Patent).

The ‘975 Patent is directed to a modular hybrid-charger assembly comprising a rechargeable internal battery connected to a port operable to function as a tetherless connection to a portable electronic device and a device holder having a framework operable to receive, hold, and release the portable electronic device.  The ‘753 Patent claims methods relating to use of the hybrid-charger assembly of the ‘975 Patent.

The accused products are AST’s Enerplex Surfr and Enerplex Surfr Amp cases for the iPhone 6/6s and the Enerplex Surfr for iPhone 5/5s.

A number of green patent complaints were filed in November and December of 2015 in the areas of LEDs, smart grid, and water treatment.

LEDs

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Ace Hardware Corporation

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Bulbrite Industries, Inc.

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. FEIT Electronic Co.

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. G7 Corporation

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Ikea North America Services LLC

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Lowe’s Companies, Inc.

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Philips Electronics North America Corp.

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Technical Consumer Products, Inc.

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. TigerDirect, Inc.

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Torchstar Corp.

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Ushio America, Inc.

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Wayfair LLC

Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Westinghouse Lighting Corp.

Bluestone Innovations fired off thirteen complaints against a host of LED manufacturers and retailers on November 30, 2015.  All were filed in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of California (most, if not all, in San Francisco).

Some representative complaints can be viewed here:  Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Ace Hardware Corporation; Bluestone Innovations LLC v. Bulbrite Industries, Inc.; Bluestone Innovations LLC v. FEIT Electronic Company, Inc.; Bluestone Innovations LLC v. G7 Corporation

Bluestone asserted infringement of U.S. Patent No. 6,163,557 (‘557 Patent).  The ‘557 Patent is entitled “Fabrication of group III-V nitrides on mesas” and directed to group III-V nitride films fabricated on mesas patterned either on substrates such as sapphire substrates or on group III-V nitride layers grown on substrates. The mesas provide reduced area surfaces for epitaxially growing group III-V nitride films to reduce thermal film stresses in the films to minimize cracking.

The accused products are various brands and models of LED lightbulbs with group III-V nitride epitaxial films.

Smart Grid

Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. Firetide, Inc.

Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. Strix Systems, Inc.

Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. S&C Electric Company

Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. 3E Technologies Int’l, Inc.

Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. FluidMesh Networks LLC

Endeavor MeshTech (a wholly-owned subsidiary of patent monetization firm Endeavor IP) made a strong finish to a busy year of patent enforcement, filing five new lawsuits in November and December of 2015.

The suits against Firetide and Strix Systems were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on November 23, 2015 (Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. Firetide, Inc.; Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. Strix Systems, Inc.); the S&C Electric and FluidMesh Technologies complaints were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on December 1 and December 28, 2015, respectively (Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. S&C Electric Company; Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. Fluidmesh Networks, LLC); the lawsuit against 3E Technologies was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland on December 23, 2015 (Endeavor Meshtech, Inc. v. 3E Technologies International, Inc.).

All of the complaints accuse the defendants of infringing three patents in a family – U.S. Patent Nos. 7,379,981 (‘981 Patent),  8,700,749 (‘749 Patent), and 8,855,019 (‘019 Patent), each entitled “Wireless communication enabled meter and network.”

The patents-in-suit relate to a self-configuring wireless network including a number of vnodes and VGATES.

Clean Energy Management Solutions, LLC v. Eaton Corp.

Clean Energy Management Solutions sued Eaton for alleged infringement of U.S. Patent Nos. 6,636,893 (‘893 Patent) and 6,577,962 (‘962 Patent).

The ‘893 Patent is entitled “Web bridged energy management system and method” and directed to systems and methods enabling individual energy management sites to be connected using a web bridge such that data from the individual sites can be accumulated to a single site, data from one site can be distributed to many sites, and a pyramid arrangement can be used.

The ‘962 Patent is entitled “System and method for forecasting energy usage load” and directed to systems and methods dynamic, real-time energy load forecasting for a site.

Filed December 16, 2015 in federal court in Marshall, Texas, the complaint alleges that Easton’s smart grid solutions such as the Yukon IED Manager Suite infringe the patents-in-suit.

Atlas IP, LLC v. City of Naperville

Atlas filed suit against the City of Naperville, Illinois, alleging that the municipality’s installation of REX2 residential smart meters supplied by Elster Metering infringes an Atlas smart meter patent.

The asserted patent, U.S. Patent No. 5,371,734, is entitled “Medium access control protocol for wireless network” and directed to a reliable medium access control protocol for wireless LAN-type network communications among a plurality of resources, such as portable computers.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on November 30, 2015.

Water Treatment

America Greener Technologies, Inc. et al. v. Enhanced Life Water Solutions, LLC et al.

In a complaint filed December 8, 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, America Greener Technologies (AGT) sued a number of companies and individuals for alleged infringement of a patent relating to a water treatment device and process.

The asserted patent is U.S. Patent No. 8,477,003, entitled “Apparatus for generating a multi-vibrational field” (‘003 Patent).  The ‘003 Patent is directed to an apparatus and method for generating multi-vibrational electromagnetic (MVEM) fields for use in many water treatment applications, including eliminating calcium build-up, reducing salt usage, increasing water clarity, restructuring or inhibiting nitrates, and restructuring or inhibiting calcium salts and other minerals.

AGT alleges that, after selling the patent to AGT, one of the inventors/co-defendants manufactured a patented device and has been leasing, selling or renting the device.

Veolia Water Solutions & Technology Support v. WesTech Engineering, Inc.

Veolia sued WesTech in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, asserting U.S. Patent No. 8,961,785 (‘785 Patent).

The ‘785 Patent is entitled “Rotary disc filter and module for constructing same” and directed to a rotary disc filter device including a rotary drum and disc-shaped filter members secured about the drum.

Filed November 13, 2015, Veolia’s complaint alleges that WesTech’s SuperDisc disc filter infringes the ‘785 Patent.

Several new green patent complaints were filed in September and October in the areas of LEDs, smart grid, smart meters and wastewater handling.

Smart Grid

JSDQ Mesh Technologies LLC v. Silver Springs, Inc. and Pepco Holdings, Inc.

JSDQ filed a patent infringement lawsuit on September 10, 2015 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

This complaint accuses Silver Springs and Pepco of infringing three U.S. Patents Nos. 7,286,828 entitled “Method of Call Routing and Connection,” RE43,675 entitled “Wireless Radio Routing System,” and RE44,607 entitled, “Wireless Mesh Routing Method.”

The technology involved in the suit includes Silver Springs’ Smart Grid Mesh Network solutions, which the complaint alleges includes a wireless routing system and an Aerohive routing system used in conjunction with directional radio signals.

The complaint alleges Pepco is infringing the patents through its use of Silver Springs’ Smart Grid Mesh Network and associated products and services.

 

Smart Meters

 Transdata, Inc. v. Landis+Gyr, Inc. and Landis+Gyr Technology, Inc.

Transdata, Inc. v. Itron, Inc.

Transdata, Inc. v. General Electric Company and GE Energy Management Services, Inc.

On September 11, 2015, TransData filed three separate complaints in federal court in Tyler, Texas.

Each of the three complaints corresponds to a different defendant(s) (see the complaints here, here, and here), but each complaint asserts the same three patents.  These complaints follow a long list of consolidated “smart meter” cases, and in each complaint, Transdata notes that the defendant(s) indemnified and/or defended other defendant(s) in the earlier consolidated cases.

Two of the asserted patents, U.S. Patent Nos. 6,181,294 (‘294 Patent)and 6,462,713 (‘713 Patent) are related and entitled “Antenna for Electric Meter and Manufacture Thereof.”  The third patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,903,699, entitled “Wireless Communication Device for Electric Meter and Method of Manufacture Thereof,” is a continuation-in-part of ‘713 and continuation of ‘294.

These patents describe an electric meter capable of bi-directional communication over a wireless network.  The meter is equipped with wireless communication circuitry and an antenna allowing the meter to wirelessly send usage data to a remote location and wirelessly, receive operational instructions from the remote location.

For a more detailed discussion of the patented meter technology and discussion of earlier case, see our previous post here.

Numerous industrial and residential electric meters made by the defendants are at issue in these cases.

The Landis+Gyr products include residential meters containing the Landis+Gyr Gridstream RF Mesh Residential Endpoint; industrial and commercial meters containing Landis+Gyr Gridstream RF Mesh Commercial  and Industrial Endpoint; and meters with the AMI communication modules and antenna.

The Itron and General Electric meters include various residential and industrial meters equipped with under-the-glass wireless communication modules and meters with the AMI communication modules and antenna.

 

LEDs

Global Tech LED, LLC. V. Every Watt Matters, LLC and DRK Enterprises, Inc.

Global Tech LED, LLC V. Hilumnz International Corp., Hilumnz, LLC and Hilumnz USA, LLC

Global Tech LED filed a complaint against Every Watt Matters and DRK (“EWM”) on September 14, 2015 and a complaint against Hilumnz on September 15, 2015.

Both complaints were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and allege the defendant(s) infringed U.S. Patent No. 9,091,424, entitled “LED Light Bulb.”

The patent pertains to an LED device that can replace or retrofit a light bulb in an electrical socket.  The LED device has a screw connector for screwing into a light bulb socket.  A bracket connects the screw portion to the housing, which holds one or more LEDs.  The housing can rotate to direct the light from the LED and contains an electrically powered cooling fan to dissipate heat generated by LED.

Both complaints allege EWM and Hilumnz offer for sale infringing LED lamp products.  The Hilumnz complaint also alleges that Hilumnz offers for sale various Retrofit Kits.

 

Wastewater Handling

Liberty Pumps Inc. v. Franklin Electric Co., Inc.

On October 23, 2015, Liberty Pumps Inc. (“Liberty”) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.  The complaint alleges Franklin Electric Co. Inc. (Franklin) is infringing U.S. Patent Nos. 8,523,532 (‘532 Patent) and 8,888,465 (‘465 Patent) entitled, “Sewage Handling System, Cover and Controls.”

The ‘532 and ‘465 Patents describe a basin/pump assembly for moving liquids such as sewage.  If a bathroom is lower than a household sewer effluent pipe, this assembly would pump the bathroom wastewater to the level of sewer effluent pipe.

The assembly has a basin with a bottom, sides and a hanging feature formed into the basin.  The hanging feature has a hanging portion with a level switch.  A pump is disposed in the basin.  Also, the basin may have a cover assembly that can be fastened to the open top of the basin.

The accused products include Franklin’s LittleGIANT Pit+Plus Sewage Basin.

Jayne Saydah is a registered patent attorney with experience prosecuting patent applications for a broad range of technologies.  She has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering and an interest in protecting the intellectual property rights of any environmentally conscience inventions and businesses.