StatSignal HAN and AMR patents spell trouble for unwary innovators

Reading patents can be dull business at times. It is especially so when the patent has been written by someone skilled in the art of generalization and abstraction for the purposes of intellectual property CYA. Or so it seems. In that regard, my hat is off to StatSignal IPC, LLC., and now SIPCO LLC. US patents 6,891,838 and 7,103,511, written by StatSignal and now owned by SIPCO, cover (in my interpretation) what we now call home area networks (HANs) and wireless home automation systems. These patents are full of verbal hand waving and claims that could be broadly interpreted. They are presently being used to give Amazon and eleven other companies a hard time in East Texas US District Court. The suit was filed on 19 September 2008 as "Sipco, LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc. et al".

Thanks to Mark P. Walters of Washington State Patent Law Blog for bringing this to our attention in his post back October 15, 2008:

In other Seattle patent litigation news, Amazon was sued over home automation systems last month. It and 11 other companies were alleged to infringe US Patent Nos 6,891,838 and 7,103,511, patents covering systems that automatically adjust things like temperature, lights, security, entertainment, and plant watering, among other systems that use energy in your home. The plaintiff is SIPCO LLC, an entity that was formerly known as "Statsignal IPC LLC" according to filings before the Georgia Secretary of State's office. The patents in suit have changed hands six times since 2000, including a sojourn with Hunt Technologies, a company that was later absorbed by Landis+Gyr. SIPCO gained ownership of the patents by way of a judicial decree in July 2007, handed down by the U.S.D.C. in the Northern District of Georgia. I'm sure there is a story there, but I'm too busy to chase it down. SIPCO is related in some way to IP Co. LLC, they share the similar corporate addresses, names, and agents, according to Georgia Records (IP Co. used to be known as "Statsignal Metering Company, LLC."). IP Co. and SIPCO were plaintiffs in a case against Cellnet Technologies, Inc. and Hunt Technologies, LLC, (among others) filed in 2006 in Georgia.

The following companies were named as defendants:

AMAZON.COM, INC. ("Amazon"), COOPER INDUSTRIES, LTD. ("CIL"), COOPER WIRING DEVICES, INC. ("CWD") (collectively with CIL, "Cooper"), CRESTRON ELECTRONICS, INC. ("Crestron"), EATON CORPORATION ("Eaton"), HAWKING TECHNOLOGIES, INC. ("Hawking"), HOMESEER TECHNOLOGIES, LLC ("HomeSeer"), INTERMATIC, INC. ("Intermatic"), LEVITON MANUFACTURING CO., INC. ("Leviton"), SMART HOME SYSTEMS, INC. ("SHS"), WAYNE-DALTON CORP. ("Wayne-Dalton"), and X10 WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, INC. ("X10")

Sometimes I really don't understand how some of these patents get issued in the first place, as the technology under consideration seems to have existed in the marketplace since long before the patent filing. But these patents were granted by the USPTO, and that means those who are trying to innovate in the area of energy demand management through home area networks (HANs) and wireless home automation may have a legal battle in front of them unless they strike a deal with SIPCO. Innovators beware.

Note also that StatSignal obtained a patent on wireless utility meter gateways, US Patent 6,836,737. This one was reassigned from Hunt Technologies LLC to Lloyds TSB Bank LLC (London) in mid 2008.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. Please do not construe this as legal advice.