California software company Uniloc USA has filed another suit alleging infringement of U.S. Patent No. 5,490,216.
The suit, filed on Tuesday in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, names Adobe Systems Inc., Symantec Corp., National Instruments Corp., Pervasive Software Inc., Safenet Inc., CA Inc., Pinnacle Systems Inc., Sonic Solutions, Onyx Graphics, Inc., and Aladdin Knowledge Systems Ltd. as defendants.
The suit came on the heels of a similar suit Uniloc filed in early August against a number of companies including Sony Corp. of America, McAfee Inc. and Quark Inc.
Uniloc sued Microsoft Corp. in 2003 for allegedly misusing the same patent, which covers anti-piracy technology. A federal jury awarded Uniloc $388 million in damages following a two-week trial in 2009, although the trial judge overturned the verdict. Uniloc has filed an appeal in U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The court heard oral arguments last week.
“Patent infringement, like the kind committed by Adobe and Symantec, stifles innovation and destroys American entrepreneurship,” said Uniloc Chief Executive Officer Brad Davis. “Unfortunately, it seems that infringement has become acceptable by certain corporations. We plan on vigorously defending our intellectual property.”
Because Uniloc’s lawsuit against Microsoft was high-profile, each of the defendants should have know that it was probable that it, too, was infringing the patent in question, the suit alleges. The complaint asks the court to enjoin the defendants from using the patented technology and seeks damages and attorneys’ fees.
Uniloc is represented by T. John Ward of Ward & Smith in Longview, Texas, and several attorneys from Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo.
Karen Sloan can be contacted at [email protected].
