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A Texas company that runs court document systems in Florida and 20 other states was hit with a patent infringement lawsuit by a company that's sued at least 17 others since 2018.

The lawsuit by Akoloutheo LLC, a Frisco, Texas-based company run by a sole operator, Rochelle Burns, takes issue with Tyler Technology Inc.'s software applications, dataXchange and Tyler Content Manager, which allow the public to search and retrieve case information, documents and images stored in the cloud.

Texas has contracted with Tyler since 2012 to use its Odyssey software to operate EFileTexas.gov, the statewide electronic filing system. Miami-Dade and Broward counties have used Odyssey software.

Tyler's software allegedly infringes on Akoloutheo's patent issued in 2008 for a system that processes transactions between information services and applications, according to the Nov. 11 complaint in Akoloutheo v. Tyler Technologies, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas in Sherman, Texas.

The plaintiff is seeking a judgment that says Tyler infringed on its patent, a permanent injunction to stop the alleged infringement, and damages, costs, expenses pre- and postjudgment interest and attorney fees.

Tyler spokeswoman Nina Minney declined to comment.

"Tyler has not been served with the referenced lawsuit," she said.

Tyler reported $935 million in 2018 revenue and employs more than 5,000 people. In addition to court technology, it also services the public administration and education sectors. About 4.3 million customers use Tyler's systems to submit payments, file court documents and do other e-services. Odyssey File & Serve, the company's e-filing and case management software, processes 167 million e-filed pages each year.

About Akoloutheo

A PACER search revealed Akoloutheo has filed 18 patent infringement lawsuits since 2018 against tech companies including Intuit Inc., International Business Machines Corp., Oracle America Inc. and Symantec Corp.

Case dockets show the parties settled seven of those cases. In eight cases, Akoloutheo moved to dismiss its claims with prejudice before the defendants filed answers. In two case, the defendants filed answers and counterclaims against Akoloutheo, but then both parties moved to dismiss their claims with prejudice.

Frisco solo practitioner Ronald Burns, who represents the plaintiff, noted some dismissed cases ended in confidential settlements.

"The company is a nonpracticing entity that is licensing this patent, and it's part of their licensing campaign," Burns explained.

Some people call nonpracticing entities "patent trolls," which patent litigator Michael Smith considers derogatory. Some federal judges have banned the term in court, he noted.

Smith said 18 infringement lawsuits by an NPE is not an unusual number. The fact that so many of Akoloutheo's cases settled so early may indicate the defendants wanted to avoid the nuisance of litigation. When a defendant truly wants to license the plaintiff's technology, it takes more time to flesh out details about the patent.

The cases' dockets can't answer questions about the value of Akoloutheo's patent, he said.

"I can't tell if the patents are any good, and I can't tell if it's a shakedown campaign or not,"  explained Smith, partner in charge of Siebman, Forrest, Burg & Smith's Marshall office. "I can't tell what's happening: if it's based on the merits of the patents, or based on nuisance settlements, to get the cases to go away."

Read the complaint:

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