Context: Small and medium-sized companies have recently obtained various nine-figure patent damages verdicts against large technology companies, particularly in Texas (May 24, 2024 ip fray article) but also elsewhere: two months ago, Amazon got hit by a $525 million verdict in the Northern District of Illinois (April 15, 2024 ip fray article).
What’s new: Yesterday, a jury in Judge Alan d. Albright’s court (Western District of Texas, Waco Division) rendered a $121.95 million verdict in one of three AlmondNet v. Amazon casees that have been brought in that district.
Direct impact: While district judges rarely set aside jury verdicts, Amazon will presumably appeal this decision to the Federal Circuit, barring a settlement.
Wider ramifications: AlmondNet has brought other cases not only against Amazon, but also against Microsoft, Meta, Samsung, Roku and Lotame Solutions. Most of those defendants have already settled.
AlmondNet describes itself as an “adtech pioneer” (corporate website) and uses its own patents in the provision of various data services (disclosure).
Here’s yesterday’s $121.95 million verdict:
Two patents were put before the jury, which held them both infringed and did not invalidate them through an Alice step 2 determination that there was nothing technologically innovative about the claimed inventions:
- U.S. Patent No. 8,671,139 (“media properties selection method and system based on expected profit from profile-based ad delivery”)
- U.S. Patent No. 7,822,639 (“added-revenue off-site targeted advertising”)
Originally, the complaint in this case (6:21-cv-00898-ADA), which was filed in August 2021, involved ten patents, but Amazon obviously mounted a fierce defense that resulted in an unusual delay as well as a major narrowing of the case. Here’s the original complaint, filed by Reza Mirzaie, Marc Fenster and James Milkey of L.A.-based law firm Russ August & Kabat:
Another case, filed in 2022, was dismissed about a year ago as Judge Albright granted a stipulation by the parties (Casetext).
Last month, AlmondNet filed its third complaint against Amazon, represented by the three lawyers mentioned above as well as additional attorneys from the same firm (Amy Hayden, James Tsuei, Daniel Kolko and Jason Wietholter):
AlmondNet filed a near-simultaneous notice of related cases, pointing to the fact that the case tried this week was pending against the same defendant and the same “accused instrumentalities,” and that the same two patents were asserted against Lotame Solutions in the District of Delaware. But the notice didn’t really help. The case remained with Judge Robert Pitman, who is known to liberally grant stays once a petition for inter partes review is filed with the Patent Trial & Appeal Board (PTAB) of the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). The Chief Judge of the Western District of Texas recently made it harder to get related cases assigned to Judge Albright, but it still works if there’s a clear judicial-efficiency benefit because of prior work involving some of the same patents (June 5, 2024 ip fray article).