Toward the beginning of January, Dali Wireless Inc. filed suit against CommScope, together with AT&T and Ericsson, in a single Eastern District of Texas complaint. At the end of the month, the same plaintiff hit CommScope in a new Western District of Texas case (6:22-cv-00104), this one also tagging Corning, Ericsson, and Verizon (Verizon Wireless), with infringement allegations focusing on the incorporation of “small cell wireless solutions” purportedly provided by CommScope, Corning, and Ericsson within Verizon’s LTE and 5G networks. The two January suits widen the disputes between Dali Wireless and both CommScope and Corning, which are long-standing litigants elsewhere, including in Delaware, where District Judge Maryellen Noreika has disposed of a flurry of dispositive motions in relatively short order.
Dali’s set of asserted patents here (8,682,338; 10,334,499; 11,006,343; 11,026,232), broadly directed to a certain Distributed Antenna System (DAS), overlaps with prior sets. Dali accuses Verizon and CommScope of infringing the ‘499, and ‘232 patents through Verizon’s LTE and 5G networks, through incorporation of CommScope’s ION®-E/ERA platform; Verizon and Corning, of infringing the ‘499, ‘343, and ‘232 via provision of those networks, through incorporation of Corning’s Everon 6000 DAS solutions; and Verizon and Ericsson, of infringing all four patents through inclusion of Ericsson’s Radio Dot System within the Verizon’s networks.
Dali Wireless is a Canadian company founded in 2006, describing itself as “known within the industry as an innovator in providing end-to-end, software defined digital radio distribution solutions that can be implemented in [DAS] used for cellular, public safety, and other RF communications” and as “a world-wide innovator in digital radio distribution systems and digital predistortion technology that revolutionized in-building and outdoor wireless coverage and capacity”. Currently available USPTO records indicate that it holds roughly 75 issued US patents, all homegrown, most as part of that single large family in which prosecution continues.
The plaintiff has been in litigation with CommScope and with Corning for quite some time, with a trial scheduled before Judge Noreika for next month. Judge Noreika has adopted Delaware District Judge Colm F. Connolly’s procedure “to combat excessive summary judgment motion practice in patent cases”: parties are required to rank their requests and, as soon as the court denies one of them, it will not consider any motion placed below that denied motion on the list. In a January 28, 2022 order, Judge Noreika followed this procedure. She granted Dali Wireless’s first ranked ground for summary judgment (as unopposed) but denied the second, leaving all remaining grounds unanswered. Likewise, the court denied the first ground but did so because claim construction is required—i.e., on process terms, rather than on the substance—and therefore turned to the second ranked ground (no willfulness), which she denied, ending her consideration of defendant-side motions for summary judgment.
A February 24 claim construction hearing has been set in advance of the upcoming trial because “it appears that there is no dispute that at least three of the four claim construction disputes raised [in dispositive motions]” would be dispositive. Briefing is underway.
To dig into the background of the disputes between Dali and CommScope, which includes a prior trial and Federal Circuit appeal of the resulting judgment, as well as to flesh out the wider context for the Dali-Corning litigation, see RPX’s coverage at “Dali Wireless Turns to East Texas as Delaware Judge Clamps Down on Excessive Motion Practice in an Earlier Case” (January 2022). The new West Texas suit has been assigned to District Judge Alan D. Albright. 1/27, Western District of Texas.