New Mexico plaintiff Payvox LLC has sued Apple ( 1:24-cv-00183), Block (f/k/a Square) ( 1:24-cv-01336), HMD (1:24-cv-20725), MasterCard ( 1:24-cv-01339), Samsung ( 2:24-cv-00127), Sony ( 2:24-cv-00129), and Visa ( 1:24-cv-00244) over the incorporation of NFC (Near Field Connectivity) technology in various hardware and software products. Asserted across these complaints, filed in multiple districts, are two patents from a family of 17 generally related to processing an advertisement associated with an RFID tag.
The family of the asserted patents (8,788,360; 8,788,362) has issue dates ranging from June 2010 to November 2022 and an earliest estimated priority date in March 2004 based on the filing of a provisional application. The first family members issued to Harvest One Media, for which named inventor Barry Bryant has signed, as its "sole member". On social media, Bryant (now identifying himself as a "Design Consultant at Tata Consultancy Services") describes his years at Harvest One Media, 2004-2008, as spent on "[c]ommunications design, branding and platform development".
On social media, Bryant's fellow named inventor, Paul Staudt, dates his time with Harvest One from 2004-2006, characterizing himself as a "[f]ounding member and partner", where, among other things, he "[i]nvented and then monetized twelve registered US Patents", including the two now asserted in litigation. Staudt tags himself as a "Sales and Marketing Professional / Volunteer", with a most recent position ending in 2015, as an account manager with PR Newswire.
In January 2012, Harvest One Media assigned the asserted family to TTN Holdings, LLC, an entity formed in Delaware in December 2011. TTN Holdings registered to conduct business in New York, in January 2012; Thomas Amodio signed for TTN, as its manager. No transfer of the '360 and '362 patents yet appears in publicly available USPTO assignment records, but Payvox pleads that it is the assignee of all right, title, and interest in them and that it "possesses the exclusive right and standing to prosecute the present action[s] for infringement".
Payvox was formed in New Mexico on January 19, 2024. State records indicate that it is member managed but do not list the members. Its business purpose is identified as "Patent licensing services". Payvox has disclosed that it does not have a parent corporation and that there is no publicly held corporation owning ten percent or more of its stock. Rabicoff Law LLC, which has lately filed multiple complaints on behalf of plaintiffs with ties to Jeffrey M. Gross, filed the complaints for Payvox.
Apple is accused of infringing both patents through the provision of smartphones, including the iPhone XS and iPhone 14; Block, of infringing only the '362 patent through the provision of the Square Point of Sale app; HMD, of infringing only the '360 patent through the provision of the Nokia 3.4 smartphone; MasterCard, of infringing both patents through the provision of the MasterCard Tap on Phone contactless payment system; Samsung, of infringing only the '360 patent through the provision of smartphones, including the Galaxy A42 5G; Sony, of infringing only the '360 patent through the provision of the Sony Xperia 1 smartphone; and Visa, of infringing both patents through the provision of the Visa Tap to Phone contactless payment system.
The Samsung and Sony suits have been assigned to Chief Judge Rodney Gilstrap; the Block case, to District Judge Arun Subramanian; and the MasterCard suit, to District Judge Analisa Torres. 2/22, Apple, Western District of Texas; 2/22, Block, MasterCard, Southern District of New York; 2/22, Samsung, Sony, Eastern District of Texas; 2/23, Visa, District of Delaware; 2/24, HMD, Southern District of Florida.
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