WASHINGTON, DC, April 10, 2018: Morgan Lewis, on behalf of TCT Mobile, recently invalidated four patents long asserted by the patent owner as fundamental to smartphone functionality, granting the wireless industry unencumbered access to this technology.
Alcatel-branded cellphone manufacturer TCT Mobile was sued by Wi-LAN entity Wireless Protocol Innovations, Inc. in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on allegations that it infringed four of its patents related to point-to-multipoint communication technology, which enables the network access necessary to connect all cellphone users, and provides high-speed data access for faster downloads and streaming on smartphones.
Over the course of two-and-a-half years, Morgan Lewis filed multiple petitions for inter partes review in the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), contesting the validity of the four patents in suit. Upon the firm’s motion, the district court stayed the proceedings before it just three months before trial, pending the outcome of the USPTO proceedings. In February and March, Judges Kevin F. Turner, Mitchell G. Weatherly, and Kamran Jivani issued multiple decisions collectively invalidating three of the asserted patents, allowing manufacturers free access to the cellular technology. The fourth patent was disclaimed by Wireless Protocol Innovations before the start of a formal hearing in the USPTO proceeding.
The Morgan Lewis team was led by partners Robert Gaybrick and Nathan McCutcheon; senior counsel John Zele; and associates Jeremy Peterson, Jacob Snodgrass, Bradford Cangro, and Adam Brooke.