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Friday, March 29, 2024

Texas companies file another round of lawsuits over security system patents

Rodneygilstrap


MARSHALL, Texas (Legal Newsline) - A Texas-based company and its sister company have filed lawsuits against seven different electronics and security system makers, including Logitech and Panasonic, for allegedly infringing two of its patents.




 




Trover Group Inc., based in Plano, and The Security Center Inc., headquartered in Dallas, filed seven separate complaints in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas last week.




 




Six of the seven complaints were filed Dec. 31. The other was filed Jan. 2.




 




The named defendants, in addition to Logitech and Panasonic, include Kaltec Electronics Inc. doing business as Digital Watchdog, Pelco Inc., USA Vision Systems Inc., Hunt Electronics USA Inc. and FireKing Security Group.




 




The plaintiffs allege Logitech has infringed U.S. Patent No. 5,751,346.




 




The patent, along with U.S. Patent No. 5,751,345, was issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in May 1998. The patents are entitled “Image Retention and Information Security System.”




 




The ‘345 patent relates generally to video monitoring systems, and in particular systems that store and retrieve images and related transaction data by the use of computer equipment and digital storage.




 




The ‘346 patent relates generally to video monitoring systems, and in particular systems that store images based on the detection of changes in the pixilation between images.




 




The plaintiffs allege Kaltec, Pelco, USA Vision, Hunt and FireKing have infringed both patents. Panasonic, they allege, has infringed the ‘346 patent.




 




The lawsuits are the latest to be filed over the patents, which were originally assigned to Dozier Financial Corporation, a company owned and controlled by Charles Dozier, one of the named inventors of both patents, and his family.




 




Dozier Financial later changed its name to Trover Group.




 




Security Center also is a business owned and controlled by Dozier and his family that has been granted an exclusive license of the ‘345 and ‘346 patents from Trover.




 




Security Center manufactures and sells the IRIS DVS, IRIS Total Vision and EyzOn products, which are commercial embodiments of the two patents.




 




In 2006, Trover enforced the ‘345 and ‘346 patents against two infringers, Diebold Corporation and Verint Systems Inc., by bringing separate actions for patent infringement again in the Eastern District of Texas.




 




The federal court held a claim construction hearing and issued a claim construction order in the Diebold case. The cases were completely resolved and dismissed.




 




Trover and Security Center also filed an action for patent infringement against Tyco Integrated Security LLC, Sensormatic LLC, ADT LLC, March Networks Inc. and 3VR Security Inc., also in the Eastern District of Texas.




 




The federal court has become a popular venue for patent infringement cases because of its set of local rules for such cases and rather fast trial settings.




 




The court, in that case, held a claim construction hearing and issued a claim construction order construing the terms of the ‘345 and ‘346 patents.




 




That case now has been completely resolved and dismissed.




 




Trover and Security Center further filed an action for patent infringement against Vicon Industries Inc. in the Eastern District of Texas.




 




That case, likewise, has been completely resolved and dismissed.




 




Trover and Security Center also have filed the following actions in the Eastern District of Texas to enforce the ‘345 and/or ‘346 patents:




 




* Trover Group Inc. et al. v. i3 International Inc.;




 




* Trover Group Inc. et al. v. Dedicated Micros USA;




 




* Trover Group Inc. et al. v. HIKVision USA Inc.; and




 




* Trover Group Inc. et al. v. Axis Inc.




 




The above four cases have been consolidated for pre-trial purposes and have been assigned to Judge William C. Bryson.




 




All but one of the cases filed last week have been assigned to Judge Rodney Gilstrap. The FireKing case has not yet been assigned, as of Tuesday’s docket.




 




When contacted about the lawsuits via phone, a spokeswoman for Trover declined to comment.




 




From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by email at patents@legalnewsline.com.


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