An Eastern District of Texas lawsuit filed last Friday accuses Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. and Samsung Electronics America Inc. of infringing five patents owned by the non-profit private university relating to improvements to coding systems and methods. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) argues that Samsung uses its patented technology in numerous consumer electronics, including its computers, tablets, phones, and Wi-Fi enabled watches.
As previously reported, Caltech prevailed over Apple and Broadcom in an infringement trial in February 2020. Four of the five patents asserted in the instant suit were infringed, the Central District of California found.
The court awarded Caltech $837 million from Apple and $270 million from Broadcom after extensive litigation, including the dismissal of the defendants’ defenses and counter-claims. In addition, the university’s patents withstood ten inter partes review petitions submitted by Apple, Caltech notes.
Now, the university seeks to hold Samsung accountable for its alleged infringement. The complaint explains that one of the patents, the so-called RA Patent is “directed to a new class of error correction codes called ‘repeat and accumulate codes.’” The others, deemed “IRA Patents” purportedly “introduce another new class of error correction codes related to RA codes called ‘irregular repeat and accumulate codes.’” The RA and IRA Patents’ claimed methods and apparatuses are directed to encoders and decoders, the complaint says.
Caltech states five claims for relief, one for each of the asserted patents. The university seeks compensation for the infringement, plus interest, and an award of its attorneys’ fees and costs. Caltech is represented by Susman Godfrey LLP.
