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F2VS Technologies, Inc. has added two cases to the campaign that
it began this past June, suing Acuity Brands
(Acuity Brands Lighting) (1:17-cv-04774) and
Daintree Networks (1:17-cv-01713). The accused
products in these new complaints are the defendants' networked
lighting control systems, while the June complaints, which asserted
the same three patents in separate Delaware cases, targeted various
Wi-Fi networking products (i.e., access points and
controllers) of Brocade (Ruckus
Wireless), HP Enterprises (HPE)
(Aruba Networks), and Qualcomm.
This litigation campaign is not the first over these patents.
F2VS Technologies appears to be controlled by Franciscus Diaba,
the former CEO of Endeavor IP, Inc., a publicly traded NPE that,
prior to ceasing operations, ran a campaign asserting the three
patents (7,379,981; 8,700,749; 8,855,019) against over 20
defendants. F2VS was formed in Delaware in October 2016. In a
patent assignment agreement between Endeavor IP and F2VS, Diaba is
listed as the latter entity's managing member; however, Diaba
otherwise holds himself out as a senior attorney dealing with
technology transactions at Johnson &
Johnson.
Beginning in 2013, Endeavor, through its subsidiary Endeavor
MeshTech, Inc., litigated the '981, '749, and '019 in a
campaign targeting companies that provide energy grids or
manufacture components of such grids. Most of the NPE's cases
terminated within six months of filing. During the course of the
campaign, Endeavor announced that it had signed settlement and
license agreements with a number of defendants, including
Eaton, FreeWave Technologies,
Mueller Systems, Schneider
Electric, and Synapse Wireless.
Endeavor IP acquired the patents-in-campaign, together with a
fourth family member (8,019,836), from Mesh Comm, LLC, a Delaware
company established in November 2008 by one of the named inventors
Kenneth W. Garrard to hold and assert them. In June 2009, Mesh Comm
initiated its own campaign, asserting the '981 and '836
patents in litigation against local energy companies, as well as
eventual Toshiba-subsidiary Landis +
Gyr. An order construing 24 claim terms issued in a
Maryland case against PEPCO Energy Services and
Silver Spring Networks. The parties subsequently
asked the court to vacate the claim construction order to
facilitate settlement, which the court did, dismissing the case in
August 2011. All other cases ended after only few months, sometimes
weeks, of litigation.
Mesh Comm transferred the asserted portfolio in May 2013 to
Endeavor, which in turn assigned the patents to F2VS in November
2016. In response to F2VS's June complaints, both Aruba and
Ruckus Wireless attacked the sufficiency of the plaintiff's
allegations, of both direct and indirect infringement, prompting
F2VS to file amended complaints in each case. Aruba and Ruckus
Wireless have renewed their attacks on those amended pleadings,
contending that the allegations again fail to meet the federal
pleading standards outlined in Iqbal/Twombly.
Qualcomm has yet to answer, or otherwise respond to, the June
complaint filed against it.
Diaba was the CEO and general counsel of Endeavor IP until
approximately August 2016, when he resigned from all positions he
held at the company (although remaining on the Board of Directors)
"to pursue another opportunity". Further information
about Endeavor IP's struggles, and eventual transformation into
a new company called Nanolife Health, Inc., led by James B. Hovis
can be found at "F2VS Technologies Revives Endeavor IP's
Smart Grid Campaign" (June 2017). Hovis himself has a troubled
executive past, having been sanctioned by the Securities and
Exchange Commission for his leadership, with his wife, of another
company, called Phlo.
For more information on FV2S and for the latest information on
patent litigation campaigns, visit
RPX Insight.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.
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