IPR2017-01430 Voluntary Interrogatory Responses
`Patent 5,978,951
`
`DOCKET NO.: 2211726-0014(cid:24)
`Filed on behalf of Unified Patents Inc.
`By: David L. Cavanaugh, Reg. No. 36,476
`Daniel V. Williams, Reg. No. 45,221
`Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
`1875 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
`Washington, DC 20006
`Tel: (202) 663-6000
`Email: David.Cavanaugh@wilmerhale.com
`Roshan Mansinghani, Reg. No. 62,429
`Jonathan Stroud, Reg. No. 72,518
`Unified Patents Inc.
`1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 10
`Washington, DC, 20009
`Tel: (202) 805-8931
`Email: jonathan@unifiedpatents.com
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`___________________________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`___________________________
`
`UNIFIED PATENTS INC.
`Petitioner
`v.
`PLECTRUM LLC
`Patent Owner
`IPR2017-01430
`Patent 5,978,951
`
`PETITIONER’S VOLUNTARY INTERROGATORY RESPONSES
`
`UNIFIED 1020
`
`
`Patent 5,978,951
`
`DOCKET NO.: 2211726-0014(cid:24)
`Filed on behalf of Unified Patents Inc.
`By: David L. Cavanaugh, Reg. No. 36,476
`Daniel V. Williams, Reg. No. 45,221
`Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
`1875 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
`Washington, DC 20006
`Tel: (202) 663-6000
`Email: David.Cavanaugh@wilmerhale.com
`Roshan Mansinghani, Reg. No. 62,429
`Jonathan Stroud, Reg. No. 72,518
`Unified Patents Inc.
`1875 Connecticut Ave. NW, Floor 10
`Washington, DC, 20009
`Tel: (202) 805-8931
`Email: jonathan@unifiedpatents.com
`
`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`___________________________
`
`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`___________________________
`
`UNIFIED PATENTS INC.
`Petitioner
`v.
`PLECTRUM LLC
`Patent Owner
`IPR2017-01430
`Patent 5,978,951
`
`PETITIONER’S VOLUNTARY INTERROGATORY RESPONSES
`
`UNIFIED 1020
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01430 Voluntary Interrogatory Responses
`Patent 5,978,951
`Petitioner, Unified Patents Inc., provides the following voluntary
`
`interrogatory responses.
`
`A.
`
`B.
`
`DEFINITIONS
`
`’951 PATENT means U.S. Patent 5,978,951.
`
`COMMUNICATIONS means the transmission or receipt of information of
`
`any kind through any means (e.g., e-mail, text message, voicemail, audio,
`
`computer readable media, or orally).
`
`C. MEMBER means any company that participates in UNIFIED’s solution and
`
`D.
`
`E.
`
`F.
`
`MEMBERS means all such companies.
`
`IPR means inter partes review.
`
`THE INSTANT IPR means this proceeding.
`
`PETITION means the petition, including the exhibits thereto, for THE
`
`INSTANT IPR.
`
`G.
`
`UNIFIED means Unified Patents Inc. and includes any shareholder, officer,
`
`director, employee, agent, representative, privies, intermediaries, or other
`
`individual authorized to act on behalf of Unified Patents Inc.
`
`H.
`
`USPTO means the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
`
`1
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01430 Voluntary Interrogatory Responses
`Patent 5,978,951
`
`RESPONSES TO INTERROGATORIES
`
`INTERROGATORY NO. 1:
`
`Identify any COMMUNICATIONS between UNIFIED and any entity other
`
`than its counsel relating to the financing, preparation, editing, prior review, or
`
`approval of the PETITION.
`
`RESPONSE NO. 1:
`
`UNIFIED states that no such communications exist.
`
`UNIFIED states that it was founded by intellectual property professionals
`
`over concerns with the increasing risk of non-practicing entities (NPEs) asserting
`
`patents of poor quality against strategic technologies and industries. The founders
`
`thus created a first-of-its-kind company whose sole purpose is to deter NPE litigation
`
`by protecting technology sectors. Companies in a technology sector subscribe to
`
`UNIFIED’s technology-specific deterrence, and in turn, UNIFIED performs many
`
`NPE-deterrent activities, such as analyzing the technology sector and monitoring
`
`patent activity (including patent ownership and sales, NPE demand letters and
`
`litigation, and industry companies). UNIFIED’s monitoring activities allows it to
`
`identify patents, perform prior art research, analyze invalidity, and to sometimes file
`
`reexaminations or IPRs against some patents.
`
`UNIFIED states that it has sole and absolute discretion over its decision to
`
`contest patents through the USPTO’s post-grant proceedings. Based on its own
`
`2
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01430 Voluntary Interrogatory Responses
`Patent 5,978,951
`analysis, UNIFIED determines which patents are worth pursuing in terms of
`
`searching for prior art or taking action, including filing an IPR. UNIFIED’s
`
`decisions to file an IPR are made independently without the input, assistance, or
`
`approval of its MEMBERS. Should UNIFIED decide to challenge a patent in a post-
`
`grant proceeding, UNIFIED controls every aspect of such a challenge, including
`
`controlling which patent and claims to challenge, which prior art to apply and the
`
`grounds raised in the challenge, and when to bring any challenge.
`
`MEMBERS receive no prior notice of UNIFIED’s patent challenges. After
`
`filing a post-grant proceeding, UNIFIED retains sole and absolute discretion and
`
`control over all strategy decisions (including any decision to continue or terminate
`
`UNIFIED’s participation). UNIFIED is also solely responsible for paying for the
`
`preparation, filing, and prosecution of any post-grant proceeding, including any
`
`expenses associated with the proceeding.
`
`In THE INSTANT IPR, UNIFIED exercised its sole discretion and control in
`
`deciding to file this PETITION against the ’951 PATENT, including paying for all
`
`fees and expenses. UNIFIED shall exercise sole and absolute control and discretion
`
`of the continued prosecution of THE INSTANT IPR (including any decision to
`
`terminate UNIFIED’s participation) and shall bear all subsequent costs related to
`
`THE INSTANT IPR.
`
`3
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01430 Voluntary Interrogatory Responses
`Patent 5,978,951
`
`INTERROGATORY NO. 2:
`
`Identify any individuals acting for or on behalf of any entity other than
`
`UNIFIED’s counsel that participated or assisted in any way with the financing,
`
`preparation, editing, prior review, approval, or filing of the PETITION.
`
`RESPONSE NO. 2:
`
`UNIFIED states that no such individuals exist. UNIFIED further states that
`
`no individuals other than UNIFIED’s employees and its counsel had any prior
`
`knowledge of the filing of THE INSTANT IPR.
`
`As stated in response to Interrogatory No. 1, in THE INSTANT IPR,
`
`UNIFIED exercised its sole discretion and control in deciding to file the PETITION
`
`against the ’951 PATENT, including paying for all fees and expenses. UNIFIED
`
`shall exercise sole and absolute control and discretion of the continued prosecution
`
`of THE INSTANT IPR (including any decision to terminate UNIFIED’s
`
`participation) and shall bear all subsequent costs related to THE INSTANT IPR.
`
`UNIFIED further states that its MEMBERS do not get to participate in any
`
`way in UNIFIED’s deterrent activities. UNIFIED does not receive input from its
`
`MEMBERS, and does not give them an opportunity to participate in or an
`
`opportunity to even know that UNIFIED is contemplating filing an IPR before the
`
`IPR is filed. In THE INSTANT IPR, none of UNIFIED’s MEMBERS had any prior
`
`4
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01430 Voluntary Interrogatory Responses
`Patent 5,978,951
`knowledge of, or involvement in, the preparation and filing of THE PETITION or
`
`THE INSTANT IPR.
`
`INTERROGATORY NO. 3:
`
`Identify payments by any entity to UNIFIED relating to the financing of THE
`
`INSTANT IPR.
`
`RESPONSE NO. 3:
`
`UNIFIED states that no such payments exist.
`
`UNIFIED states that its MEMBERS pay only a yearly subscription fee to a
`
`specific technology zone, and in return, UNIFIED performs its many NPE-deterrent
`
`activities. UNIFIED’s MEMBERS do not pay any fees designated for IPRs, let
`
`alone for IPRs against specific patents. It is UNIFIED and UNIFIED alone that
`
`determines how to spend its money. UNIFIED independently selects which patents
`
`to target based on the perceived deterrent value to a technology zone. Based on its
`
`own analysis, UNIFIED determines which patents are worth pursuing in terms of
`
`filing an IPR or performing some other activity. UNIFIED’s decisions to file an IPR
`
`are made independently without the input, assistance, or approval of its MEMBERS.
`
`5
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01430 Voluntary Interrogatory Responses
`Patent 5,978,951
`UNIFIED states that there are no explicit or implicit agreements with its
`
`MEMBERS about UNIFIED performing any particular deterrent strategy, including
`
`THE INSTANT IPR.
`
`Unified Patents Inc.
`
`By(cid:29)(cid:3)(cid:18)(cid:39)(cid:68)(cid:89)(cid:76)(cid:71)(cid:3)(cid:47)(cid:17)(cid:3)(cid:38)(cid:68)(cid:89)(cid:68)(cid:81)(cid:68)(cid:88)(cid:74)(cid:75)(cid:18)
`David L. Cavanaugh, Reg. No. 36,476
`Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
`1875 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
`Washington, DC 20006
`Tel: (202) 663-6000
`Email: David.Cavanaugh@wilmerhale.com
`
`6
`
`
`
`IPR2017-01430 Voluntary Interrogatory Responses
`Patent 5,978,951
`
`VERIFICATION
`
`I, Kevin Jakel, state that I am CEO of Unified Patents Inc., and that I am
`authorized to make this verification for and on its behalf. I certify that I have read
`the foregoing Interrogatory responses, and that the responses are true and accurate
`to the best of my own knowledge, information, and belief. Further, I make this
`verification with the knowledge that willful false statements and the like so made
`are punishable by fine or imprisonment, or both, under Section 1001 of Title 18 of
`the United States Code and that such willful false statements may jeopardize the
`results of these proceedings.
`
`I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.
`
`By:
`
`
`
`Kevin JakelKevin Jakel
`
`7
`
`
Accessing this document will incur an additional charge of $.
After purchase, you can access this document again without charge.
Accept $ Charge
Still Working On It
This document is taking longer than usual to download. This can happen if we need to contact the court directly to obtain the document and their servers are running slowly.
Give it another minute or two to complete, and then try the refresh button.
A few More Minutes ... Still Working
It can take up to 5 minutes for us to download a document if the court servers are running slowly.
Thank you for your continued patience.
This document could not be displayed.
We could not find this document within its docket. Please go back to the docket page and check the link. If that does not work, go back to the docket and refresh it to pull the newest information.
Your account does not support viewing this document.
You need a Paid Account to view this document. Click here to change your account type.
Your account does not support viewing this document.
Set your membership
status to view this document.
With a Docket Alarm membership, you'll
get a whole lot more, including:
- Up-to-date information for this case.
- Email alerts whenever there is an update.
- Full text search for other cases.
- Get email alerts whenever a new case matches your search.
One Moment Please
The filing “” is large (MB) and is being downloaded.
Please refresh this page in a few minutes to see if the filing has been downloaded. The filing will also be emailed to you when the download completes.
Your document is on its way!
If you do not receive the document in five minutes, contact support at support@docketalarm.com.
Sealed Document
We are unable to display this document, it may be under a court ordered seal.
If you have proper credentials to access the file, you may proceed directly to the court's system using your government issued username and password.
Access Government Site
