Newegg scores patent infringement victory

Newegg opened 2014 with a victory over patent trolls.



"Newegg believes that fighting patent trolls is necessary to serve our customers, and to facilitate entrepreneurship and true innovation," said Lee Cheng, Newegg's chief legal officer. "We support the patent system, but believe it is being abused on a massive scale by patent trolls who want to force entrepreneurs into cash settlements to avoid the high cost of defense."



Newegg's latest patent troll litigation victory came in the form of a determination made by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC). The ITC confirmed that memory card readers sold by Newegg did not infringe patents held by Technology Properties Limited, LLC (TPL), a division of Alliacense Ltd.



"The commission's determination vindicates Newegg's position," said Cheng. "As an innovator in the field of online commerce, Newegg has great respect for inventors and for valid intellectual property rights. However, the patent TPL asserted does not represent innovation, but as the ITC recognized, an improper attempt to extend a monopoly. When Newegg fights and beats bad patents, our customers don't have to pay the toll of the troll."



Newegg also announced that it and other co-defendants have filed an opposition to the appeal by Digitech Image Technologies, LLC, of a district court ruling that found invalid Digitech's asserted patent on digital imaging technology.



In July 2012, Digitech, an entity that, according to Newegg, is affiliated with serial patent abuser Acacia Research Corporation, filed suit against some 45 manufacturers and retailers of digital cameras and imaging devices, alleging infringement of its U.S. Patent No. 6,128,415 titled "Device profiles for use in a digital image processing system." Digitech's patent asserted claims for a "device profile" and method of generating a "device profile" used to adjust chromatic and spatial elements in a captured digital image. On Aug. 6, 2013, the District Court for the Central District of California entered summary judgment against Digitech, finding its patent invalid. The court found that Digitech's claims were "intangible, possess no meaningful non-abstract limitation and are, therefore, ineligible for patent protection."



Newegg's victories against patent trolls in 2013 include wins against Soverain Software, Alcatel-Lucent USA, and Kelora Systems LLC at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, against Digitech and against TPL before the U.S. International Trade Commission.