September 28, 2024
This past June, CelluPlex LLC opened up a litigation campaign over a single patent generally related to an "interconnect device for coupling a cellular telephone to at least one wired telephone" by filing separate Eastern District of Texas suits against Gigaset Technologies, Mitel Networks, Panasonic, Vtech Holdings, and Yealink Network Technology. So far in September, the New Mexico plaintiff has added a Northern District of Texas complaint against Cornwall Capital Management (Uniden) (3:24-cv-02247), a Northern District of Illinois complaint against Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (1:24-cv-09091), and additional Eastern District of Texas suits against AT&T (2:24-cv-00789) and Philips (2:24-cv-00790).
Infringement allegations of the sole patent-in-suit (7,177,664) are focused on the provision of telephone systems that support features for connecting to cellular phones via Bluetooth. Comprising a family of one, the '664 patent issued in February 2007 with an estimated priority date in November 2003. Named inventor Ronald ("Ron") Lachman collected rights in March 2018 from coinventor Carmi Weinzweig; a misdated assignment record has Lachman moving rights to CelluPlex on May 14, 2014, although another date internal to the document filed with the USPTO, May 14, 2024, seems more logical.
Lachman appears, based on a social media account, to be a "Venture Partner" with Lachman Goldman Ventures, an apparent consultancy. Lachman characterizes himself as "a networking and systems software entrepreneur who began his life as a 'Technology Angel' following the sale of his consulting/software firm Lachman Associates to Eastman Kodak in 1989". He further touts having cofounded and/or "co-funded" multiple other companies in the networking space, including Sandpiper Networks, characterized as "the inventor of the [] Content Distribution Network concept, which was sold to Digital Island in 1999".
The 2003 estimated priority date for the '664 patent appears to fall during a period when Lachman worked with Trendlines (an investment firm and incubator), Lachman characterizing himself at the time as "Advisor, Seed Investor, Occasional Board Member & Resident Geek". During that time, he also identifies himself as on the board of, and a "cofounder-coinventor" with, UltraDNS, which was apparently sold to Neustar in 2006 and Tarantella, which was apparently acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2005, among other listed engagements.
Formed in New Mexico on April 29, 2024, CelluPlex is of unconfirmed management or personnel. It is among a half dozen recently formed New Mexico plaintiffs to launch litigation over recently received patents through the representation of Rabicoff Law LLC, which represents CelluPlex in this campaign. For other examples, see RPX's coverage of new campaigns initiated by Data Resonance LLC, e-Beacon LLC, Lab Technology LLC, Payvox LLC, and Pointwise Ventures LLC. Recently filed cases from Pointwise Ventures in the District of Delaware have provided insight into the ownership of at least that New Mexico entity; for details, see here.
In connection with its earlier cases, which were assigned to Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap, CelluPlex disclosed that it does not have a parent corporation and that no publicly held corporation owns ten percent or more of its stock. The Northern District of Texas requires litigants to provide a "complete list of all persons, associations of persons, firms, partnerships, corporations, guarantors, insurers, affiliates, parent or subsidiary corporations, or other legal entities that are financially interested in the outcome of the case". CelluPlex's list includes only itself, Rabicoff Law LLC, and Garteiser Honea PLLC. It is unclear how any person or entity that is a member of CelluPlex could properly be omitted from such a list. 9/3, Uniden, Northern District of Texas; 9/26, AT&T, Philips, Eastern District of Texas; 9/26, Motorola Mobility, Northern District of Illinois.
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