Did Sirius XM Holdings engage in patent infringement, using technology that was unlawfully based on a high-bandwidth content distribution structure created by a Texas limited liability company with an office in downtown Fort Lauderdale, Fla.?
That’s what the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has been tasked with deciding. And, given the plaintiff, the case could very well be settled before trial.
Quantum Technology Innovations filed the lawsuit in the Texas court on Tuesday, with the case assigned to District Judge Rodney Gilstrap and Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne.
It’s a patent infringement claim that is being filed in the Lone Star State on the grounds that Sirius XM has an Irving, Tex., subsidiary that as recently as March 2024 was hiring a Principal Software Engineer, Staff Product Manager and Staff Technical Program Manager.
What is Quantum’s chief argument? It claims the SiriusXM Tour with 360L and Vehicle Kit infringes “The ’376 Patent” held by Quantum.
But, does this patent suit have any merit? That’s what some may already be asking, as Quantum is associated with 71-year-old Leigh M. Rothschild. While he is a prolific inventor, with more than 120 patents secured by him, critics call him a patent troll.
“If you want to put me in the company of other inventors who’ve gone to court” to assert valid patents with supporting evidence, “like the Wright brothers, Alexander Graham Bell, or Thomas Edison—if that’s what a patent troll is, I’m certainly a troll,” Rothschild said in an October 2023 interview with Bloomberg Law.
While Rothschild holds patents related to quadraphonic stereo, barcodes, and QR codes, Bloomberg Law analysis discovered that he and his affiliated non-practicing entities, including Quantum, have filed more than 80 lawsuits asserting patent infringement in federal courts across the country since 2021.
How many of these lawsuits have gone to trial by jury? Zero, as out of court settlements were nearly universal in each instance.
In this fresh Texas case, Quantum calls its suit enforceable.
For the arbiters, digesting the highly tech-laden 49-page complaint is task one, as it describes in detail the patented technology and how it works.
The ’376 Patent is titled “Content Distribution System for Distributing Content Over a Network, with Particular Applicability to Distributing High-Bandwidth Content.” U.S.
Patent Application No. 09/774,700, filed on November 20, 2000, and which issued on January 19, 2010, as U.S. Patent No. 7,650,376, claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/192,165 filed on March 27, 2000.
