Context: Hardly anyone is sued more frequently over patents than Samsung. And the company’s significant investments in East Texas make it even pointless for Samsung to try to move patent infringement actions out of the Eastern District (and Samsung is investing ever more in the Western District as well (April 15, 2024 Texas Tribune article on U.S. subsidies for chip factories). Earlier this month, a retrial in the Eastern District of Texas resulted in a damages verdict against Samsung of more than double the original amount: now $142 million (April 18, 2024 ip fray article).
What’s new: A non-practicing entity named Four Batons Wireless, represented by litigation powerhouse Susman Godfrey, filed a patent infringement complaint with Judge Rodney Gilstrap’s Marshall Division on Friday, accusing Samsung of the infringement of four patents co-developed by Ericsson affiliate Telcordia Technologies and Toshiba America Research. All four patents cover wireless technologies, with three of them relating to devices that implement multiple standards while one patent appears to be essential to the WiFi-related WPA3 standard.
Direct impact: Samsung will now have to decide whether to settle early, settle ahead of trial or roll the dice on a jury verdict, which didn’t work out too well in the G+ Communications case. Susman Godfrey has a relentless litigation style that defendants typically fear.
Wider ramifications: According to the complaint, Samsung is not listened to the patents-in-suit, despite having been known to have concluded past license agreements with Ericsson (which were annonced at different points, typically after litigation) and presumably also with Toshiba.
Here’s the complaint:
These are the patents-in-suit:
- U.S. Patent No. 8,798,006 on “real-time comparison of quality of interfaces” (this is about switching between cellular and WiFI networks depending on connection quality)
- U.S. Patent No. 8,239,671 on “channel binding mechanism based on parameter binding in key derivation” (here, “channel binding” refers to the WPA3 authentication and key generation procedure, and “parameter binding” means that certain parameters associated with a WiFi access point are bound to the authenticated communications channel; acording to the complaint, Samsung infringes this patent based on its implementation of the SAE protocol, which is mandatory for implementation of WPA3)
- U.S. Patent No. 7,502,348 on “silent proactive handoff” (meaning that the primary interfaced used for internet connectivity is changed during a period when there is no application traffic, such as when the phone screen is off, while using a current network, which could be cellular or WiFi)
- U.S. Patent No. 8,073,436 on “applications and/or situation responsive utilization of silent periods” (this infringement allegation effectively targets Google’s Android mobile operating system and the way it manages the lifecycle of applications that need connectivity and may perform data transfers in the background)
The patent applications were originally filed by Telcordia and Toshiba. Later, the patents were assigned to Toshiba alone, and in 2021 to Four Batons Wireless, which shortly after the transfer put Samsung on notice. Licensing negotiations failed, which is why the complaint was brought. Four Batons Wireless isn ow seeking treble damages as well as a compulsary ongoing royalty.
The patentee’s lead counsel is Houston-based Susman partner Meng Xi.