Accused patent troll Uniloc USA Inc. has asserted its patents against dozens of companies, ranging from the gigantic (Microsoft Corp.) to the obscure. Now a small software company and its New England lawyers are claiming an outsized victory against Uniloc in the Eastern District of Texas—and saying the win will help other Uniloc targets as well.
In late February, Uniloc asked U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis in Tyler to dismiss its patent infringement suit against SlickEdit Inc., a North Carolina–based company that provides source code and text editing software for developers. According to SlickEdit counsel Timothy Shannon of the New England law firm Verrill Dana, Uniloc beat a hasty retreat after a magistrate judge gutted its patent claims during a Feb. 13 Markman hearing.
