Xerox Corporation is facing a patent infringement lawsuit over its alleged appropriation of a shared data output system. The accused devices are those implementing Xerox Secure Access, a “unified ID system” that allows authenticated users to send documents securely to a centralized printing server. The case, filed on Thursday, is being held in the Western District of Texas before Judge Alan D. Albright.
Plaintiff Gallio IP LLC alleges infringement of its patent-in-suit, U.S. Patent No. 10,176,332 (the ’332 patent), titled “Server, Data Output System, Data Output Method, and Output Terminal.” According to the abstract, the ‘332 patent relates to a server, which comprises “an electronic data item receiving unit, an identification code receiving unit, an identification code storing unit, and an electronic data item transmitting unit.”
In an attached claims diagram, Gallio accused Xerox’s multifunction printers using Secure Access of featuring “data output systems comprising a plurality of output terminals…that are networked (e.g., via Ethernet) with one or more servers.” The diagram also shows that the allegedly infringing products’ output terminals include an “antenna that, when an IC chip storing an identification code is within a predetermined range, reads the identification code from the IC chip.” The server also includes “a processing unit that determines whether the specific code received by the electronic data receiving unit corresponds to the identification code received by the code receiving unit,” which then transmits the data between terminals. This relates to a user’s secure transmission of a “print job” to a printer.
According to Xerox’s website, its Secure Access system is no longer available, but it has been replaced with the Workplace Suite print management server. As a result of Xerox’s alleged patent infringement, Gallio seeks a judgment that the patent’s claims were appropriated and “a reasonable, ongoing, post-judgment royalty.” Gallio is represented by Griffin Law.
