#TRANSDATA SYSTEMS INC TRIAL#

The fact that these three patents have been adjudicated by administrative patent judges who eventually found that the claims would remain intact by denying the IPR is significant. You can just about guarantee that TransData will argue something like this - even the PTAB, which has been exceptionally hostile to patent owners and has been called a patent death quad, thought these patents were fine.

The denial of three IPR petitions relating to the same litigation is significant because, as weвЂ™ve reported here on IPWatchdog in the past, about 80 percent of petitions filed at PTAB are instituted. In the вЂ713 patent, denial of IPR institution left intact claims related to an antenna conforming to a portion of the internal surface of a dielectric housing and having a wireless communication circuit which has a carrier frequency of between 700 megahertz and 950 megahertz. Claims challenged in the вЂ294 patent included those related to an electric meter chassis with electric meter circuitry, a wireless communications circuit, antenna elements and a balance circuit causing the antenna elements to function as an antenna. In the вЂ699 patent, the IPR petition included challenges to claims relating to communication circuits communicating over cellular frequencies to communicate information on power quality, power outages, energy usage, power demand and diagnostics. What is further interesting about this case is that is that not only have each of the patents survived multiple reexaminations, but each has also had a request for inter partes review (IPR) denied by the PTAB.

#TRANSDATA SYSTEMS INC TRIAL#

By any measure prior to the creation of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) these patents would have been considered very strong. The вЂ699 patent was reexamined twice, and had two requests for reexamination denied. The вЂ713 patent was reexamined twice, also with a third request for reexamination denied. Indeed, the вЂ294 patent was reexamined twice with a third request for reexamination denied. Patent and Trademark Office with all asserted claims remaining intact. What makes this particularly noteworthy, however, is the fact that in the nearly six years since the lawsuits were originally filed, these TransData patents have collectively prevailed in thirteen separate patent validity challenges at the U.S. The trial is scheduled to begin July 18, 2016, before Judge Robert W. What makes this case newsworthy now, at least marginally so, is the fact that a trial date has just been set. That TransData filed a patent infringement lawsuit some time ago and in the Eastern District of Texas is in and of itself not newsworthy. The patents claim technologies related to the wireless transmission of electric meter data to reduce the amount of time spent reading the meter manually, especially when those meters are in places that are tough to reach. 6903699, titled Wireless Communication Device for Electric Meter and Method of Manufacture Thereof. 6181294, entitled Antenna for Electric Meter and Method of Manufacture Thereof U.S. sale or importation of digital electric meters, specifically those including internal wireless communication circuits and antenna. The lawsuit filed by TransData alleges that these three companies have engaged in willfully infringing upon three of TransDataвЂ™s patents through the U.S. ( NASDAQ:ITRI) Fairfield, CT-based energy giant General Electric ( NYSE:GE) and Landis+Gyr AG, a Swiss energy management firm owned jointly by Japanese tech giant Toshiba Corporation ( TYO:6502) and the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, a public-private partnership. The suit names three defendants: Liberty Lake, WA-based energy tech company Itron, Inc.

TransData, a digital electricity meter developer, is located in Carrollton, TX. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Several years ago TransData filed a patent infringement lawsuit in the U.S.

Transdata systems inc