Case 2:12-cv-02831-JPM-tmp Document 22-4 Filed 12/20/12 Page 1 of 3 PageID 164
`
`Case 2:12—cv—O2831—JPM—tmp Document 22-4 Filed 12/20/12 Page 1 of 3 Page|D 164Case 2:12—cv—O2831—JPM—tmp Document 22-4 Filed 12/20/12 Page 1 of 3 Page|D 164
`
`EXHIBIT C
`
`
`
`EXHIBIT CEXHIBIT C
`
`
`
`

`
`Memphis area firm sues tech giants for patent infringement : Memphis Commercial Appeal
`Page 1 of 2
`Case 2:12-cv-02831-JPM-tmp Document 22-4 Filed 12/20/12 Page 2 of 3 PageID 165
`
`Memphis area firm sues tech giants for patent
`infringement
`
`By Ted Evanoff
`
`Originally published 11:24 a.m., November 20, 2012
`Updated 12:06 a.m., November 21, 2012
`
`Twitter, Google, Facebook and a slew of other tech giants are targets of a patent
`infringement lawsuit filed in Memphis federal court by a new Cordova firm.
`
`B.E. Technologies Inc. claims social media and smartphone companies have made
`use of a computer interface method patented by its chief executive officer in 2004 to
`help track advertising on the Internet.
`
`Three-page complaints were filed in 19 separate lawsuits in U.S. District Court in
`Memphis in September and October.
`
`The lawsuits are signed by Redwood City, Calif., patent lawyer Robert Freitas, an
`attorney known in intellectual property circles for defending dating site eHarmony and
`litigating against manufacturer Seagate Technologies.
`
`B.E. Technologies was formed in September by Martin D. Hoyle, who moved to
`Cordova in 2006 from Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, Freitas said. Hoyle declined to
`comment and referred questions to Freitas.
`
`Public records show Hoyle, 53, is a manager of Webnet Media LLC, a firm in the
`Memphis suburb of Eads. He earlier headed Big Easy Technologies of Metairie, La,
`and was an information technology manager at Elixir Industries of Destrehan, La.
`Tennessee Secretary of State records list the address of B.E. Technologies as 116
`Viking Drive in Cordova, a Memphis suburb.
`
`In an email, Freitas provided biographical information about Hoyle. It says he was born
`in Sylva, N.C., attended Western Carolina University and developed an interest in the
`Internet in the 1990s."With the explosion of the Internet in the 1990s," the message
`from Freitas says, "Mr. Hoyle began working with several Internet companies and
`programmers, including a group that was developing websites for the Atlanta Olympic
`Village. During this time, Mr. Hoyle gained the knowledge and technical skills that
`inspired him to focus his efforts on Internet technologies."
`
`Trade journals have dismissed the Hoyle lawsuits as patent trolling, a reference to
`broad patents used to snare tech firms in settlements to avoid litigation. In 2011,
`
`http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/nov/20/memphis-area-firm-sues-tech-giants...
`
`12/5/2012
`
`

`
`Memphis area firm sues tech giants for patent infringement : Memphis Commercial Appeal
`Page 2 of 2
`Case 2:12-cv-02831-JPM-tmp Document 22-4 Filed 12/20/12 Page 3 of 3 PageID 166
`
`President Barack Obama signed the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act, an overhaul of
`the patent system intended in part to diminish trolling.
`
`A recent book, "Patent Failure: How Judges, Bureaucrats, and Lawyers Put Innovators
`at Risk," contends patent disputes surged in the 1990s after a U.S. appeals court
`allowed plaintiffs "creative re-definitions of patent rights." The book by a pair of Boston
`University professors reports public corporations outside the chemical industry
`generated $3 billion in revenue off patents in 1999 but spent $12 billion litigating patent
`claims.
`
`Freitas, in an interview, described Hoyle as an inventor who formed B.E. Technologies
`expressly to "enforce these patents." Freitas said it is not unusual for a patent holder to
`file an infringement lawsuit years after the alleged theft occurred.
`
`Over the years, the U.S. Patent Office has issued seven patents on 12 applications by
`Hoyle, according to the tracking service patentbuddy.com.
`
`In the Hoyle lawsuits, the complaints are accompanied by patent applications that
`describe a system useful for banner advertising on websites. It lists Hoyle as the
`inventor and names B.E. Technology LLC of Bay City, Mich., as the assignee. It says
`the patents were issued in 2003 and 2004. The complaints single out tablet computers,
`saying the product "directly infringe" on the patents.
`
`Named in the order of filing are Amazon Digital Services Inc., Facebook Inc., LinkedIn
`Corp., Groupon Inc., Pandora Media Inc., Twitter Inc., Barnes & Noble Inc., Samsung
`Telecommunications America LLC, Samsung Electronics America Inc., Sony Computer
`Entertainment America LLC, Sony Mobile Communications (USA) Inc., Sony
`Electronics Inc., Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., Apple Inc., Spark Networks Inc., People
`Media Inc., Match.com LLC, and Motorola Mobility Holdings LLC.
`
`(cid:160)(cid:160)© 2012 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online
`
`http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2012/nov/20/memphis-area-firm-sues-tech-giants...
`
`12/5/2012