Acacia v. Red Hat and Novell (2010, USA)

In October 2007, patent troll IP Innovation LLC (a wholly owned subsidiary of Acacia Research Group) filed suit against Red Hat and Novell for infringement of three software patents. In April 2010, the court announced that the patents in question had all been ruled invalid.

Acacia's press release, besides a general introduction and some footers, was a single sentence:

The jury determined that the patents were invalid and not infringed.

External links

• Patent-troll company attacks Novell and Red Hat, 12 Oct 2007, LinuxDevices
• Acacia Research Subsidiary, IP Innovation LLC, Receives Jury Verdict in Patent Infringement Case, 3 Mar 2010, MarketWatch (Acacia's short press release)
• Total victory for open source software in a patent lawsuit, 3 May 2010, opensource.com
• Red Hat wins patent court fight, 30 Apr 2010, NewsObserver

Court documents

• The original complaint filed by IP Innovation LLC
• The IP Innovation v. Red Hat and Novell Trial Transcripts, 3 Oct 2010, Groklaw

Post-verdict press releases

• Red Hat: Red Hat Prevails in Federal District Court
• Novell: Novell wins federal court case over Linux patents
• Acacia: Acacia Research Subsidiary, IP Innovation LLC, Receives Jury Verdict in Patent Infringement Case

The three patents

• US5,072,412
•  ?
•  ?

Groklaw coverage

(Oldest first)

• Patent Infringement Lawsuit Filed Against Red Hat & Novell - Just Like Ballmer Predicted, Oct 11th 2007
• IP Innovation v Red Hat and Novell - 1 Year Later, Oct 11th 2008
• Red Hat Is Asking for Prior Art, Feb 16th 2009
• The IPI v. Red Hat and Novell Trial - Transcripts, May 7th 2010
• Report from the Trial in IP Innovation v. Red Hat & Novell, May 4th 2010
• Red Hat & Novell Beat IP Innovation and in Marshall, Texas, too, April 30th 2010
• The Prior Art They Used at Trial, May 13th 2010
• The IP Innovation v. Red Hat and Novell Trial Transcripts, 3 Oct 2010, Groklaw (also linked above)