Litigation
Untitled case
1:17-cv-01484
- Court
- District of Delaware
Patents at issue (1)
Summary
The Google Patents litigation metadata for US6463413 lists a Delaware District Court case, No. 1:17-cv-01484. The record does not name the parties or provide an outcome; the source is Unified Patents Litigation Data.
Case overview & background
Plain-language overview of the case: parties, accused product, patents at issue, and why the suit matters.
I'll research this case thoroughly before drafting the overview.
Now let me nail down the original asserted patents (including the '413 patent), the IPRs, and the outcome.
Key legal developments & outcome
Major rulings, motions, claim construction, settlements, and the present posture or final disposition.
I'll research this case systematically. Let me start with the basics.
Now I have the parties: Nuance Communications, Inc. v. MModal LLC. Let me dig into the docket and patent details.
Plaintiff representatives
Counsel of record for the plaintiff(s): attorneys, firms, and roles (lead counsel, of counsel, local counsel).
- Potter Anderson & Corroon
- David E. Moore · local counsel
- Bindu A. Palapura · local counsel
- Stephanie E. O'Byrne · local counsel
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- David J. Lender · lead trial counsel
- Anish R. Desai · trial counsel
- Brian E. Ferguson · IPR lead counsel
- Stephen Bosco · IPR/trial support
- Sudip Kundu · IPR/trial support
- Amanda Branch · IPR/trial support
I'll research this case to identify the parties and plaintiff's counsel.
The case is Nuance Communications, Inc. v. MModal LLC (D. Del. No. 17-1484). Let me pin down Nuance's counsel of record.
Now let me confirm the specific docket appearances and roles.
Bottom line
The "Untitled case" metadata resolves to Nuance Communications, Inc. v. MModal LLC, C.A. No. 1:17-1484 (D. Del.) ("17-1484-MN" after reassignment from JFB/SRF). Plaintiff is Nuance Communications, Inc. (not an NPE — an operating speech-recognition/transcription company). Plaintiff's counsel of record are split between Delaware local counsel (Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP) and national trial/IPR counsel (Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP), with a Nuance in-house lawyer also listed "of counsel."
⚠️ Caveat on the patent number. Your metadata lists only U.S. Patent 6,463,413. I could not confirm that patent was ever asserted in this docket. The Oct. 23, 2017 complaint asserts six Nuance speech-recognition patents — the '946 patent (categorization using NLP templates), '158 (distributed speech recognition), '295 (adaptation across multiple remote sessions), '933 (editing during synchronous playback), '034 (synchronizing audio/text cursors during editing), and '126 (detecting significant errors in speech recognition results). Separately, US 6,463,413 is an IBM patent ("Speech Recognition Training for Small Hardware Devices," Applebaum et al.), which suggests the Google Patents/Unified Patents litigation field for '413 may be mis-indexed. Flagging rather than asserting.
Plaintiff's counsel of record — Nuance Communications, Inc.
Delaware local counsel of record — Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP (Wilmington, DE)
These are the registered CM/ECF filers; Delaware local counsel must file all papers (D. Del. LR 83.5(d)). They appear on plaintiff's signature block in every letter brief I reviewed, e.g., D.I. 279 (Aug. 14, 2020) — "Attorneys for Plaintiff Nuance Communications Inc." (courtesy copy at storage.courtlistener.com /recap/gov.uscourts.ded.63495/gov.uscourts.ded.63495.279.0.pdf).
| Name (DE Bar No.) | Role | Firm / office | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| David E. Moore (#3983) | Local counsel — lead Delaware attorney | Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, Hercules Plaza, 1313 N. Market St., Wilmington, DE | Longtime Delaware patent litigator; the firm's IP group handles a large share of D. Del. patent dockets. |
| Bindu A. Palapura (#5370) | Local counsel | Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, Wilmington, DE | Signed Nuance's discovery-dispute letters and expert-report notices of service (e.g., D.I. 279). |
| Stephanie E. O'Byrne (#4446) | Local counsel | Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP, Wilmington, DE | Named on plaintiff's signature blocks in the 2020–21 filings. |
National trial counsel — Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Listed "of counsel" for plaintiff in D.I. 279 (July 31, 2020 public version), and appearing on the record at the April 8, 2019 hearing (D.I. 226 transcript: "David J. [Lender] … and with me today from Weil Gotshal &").
| Name | Role | Firm / office | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| David J. Lender | Lead trial counsel (national) | Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP, 767 Fifth Ave., New York, NY | First-chair for Nuance at the April 8, 2019 Markman/stay hearing; his pro hac vice motion appears at D.I. 9 (per Unified Patents docket feed). |
| Anish R. Desai (USPTO Reg. 73,760) | Core trial team; argued damages/§101-adjacent disputes | Weil Gotshal, New York, NY | Argued Nuance's damages-position at the 2021 hearing (D.I. 545 transcript, "MR. DESAI"); also back-up IPR counsel. |
| Brian E. Ferguson (USPTO Reg. 36,801) | Lead counsel in the parallel IPRs (Nuance as Patent Owner) | Weil Gotshal, 2001 M St. NW, Washington, DC | Named lead counsel in IPR2018-01431 ('034) and related Nuance-MModal IPRs; registered patent attorney — the IPR-facing lead. |
| Stephen Bosco (PHV) | IPR/trial support | Weil Gotshal, Washington, DC | Back-up IPR counsel; co-signed PTAB papers. |
| Sudip Kundu (USPTO Reg. 74,193) | IPR/trial support | Weil Gotshal, New York, NY | Pro hac vice granted 3/29/2019 (D.I. 213); correspondence counsel in D. Del. and in the N.D. Ga. mirror case. |
| Amanda Branch (PHV) | IPR/trial support | Weil Gotshal, 201 Redwood Shores Pkwy., |
Defendant representatives
Counsel of record for the defendant(s): attorneys, firms, and roles (lead counsel, of counsel, local counsel).
I'll research this docket. Let me start with several parallel searches.
The case is Nuance Communications, Inc. v. MModal LLC (D. Del. 1:17-cv-01484-MN). Now let me identify the defendant's counsel.
Case identification
The docket number 1:17-cv-01484 corresponds to Nuance Communications, Inc. v. MModal LLC (later captioned Nuance Communications, Inc. v. 3M Health Information Systems, Inc. and MModal LLC), D. Del., filed October 23, 2017, assigned initially to Judge Joseph F. Bataillon/Sherry R. Fallon (17-1484-JFB-SRF) and later to Judge Maryellen Noreika (17-1484-MN). The case was terminated by joint stipulation of dismissal, so ordered October 22, 2021 (D.I. 546). CourtListener docket: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/[6178722](/patent/6178722)/nuance-communications-inc-v-mmodal-llc/
Defendant(s): MModal LLC (the original defendant) and, after 3M's acquisition of MModal, 3M Health Information Systems, Inc. was added to the caption and joined on filings (see D.I. 542, 543).
Note on the patent: The Google Patents/Unified metadata ties U.S. Pat. No. 6,463,413 ("Speech recognition training for small hardware devices," IBM/Applebaum et al.) to this docket. The public filings I retrieved discuss several other Nuance patents asserted in the case (e.g., '295, '933, '403, '034, '524, '398), so the '413 appears to be one of a multi-patent assertion set; I could not confirm a docket entry specifically identifying the '413 from the sources retrieved. Flagging that as a soft spot.
Counsel of record for the Defendant(s)
Delaware local counsel (final phase of the case) — Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A.
920 N. King Street, Wilmington, DE 19801 · (302) 651-7700
Signature block on D.I. 542/543 (Sept.–Oct. 2021), styled "Attorneys for Defendants MModal LLC and 3M Health Information Systems":
| Name | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Kelly E. Farnan (D. Del. #4395) | Local counsel / lead Delaware counsel | Longtime RLF patent litigator; one of the most frequently appearing Delaware local counsel in district patent cases. |
| Nicole K. Pedi (D. Del. #6236) | Local counsel | Filed the redaction/notice papers in the closing months; RLF IP litigation group. |
| Valerie A. Caras (D. Del. #6608) | Local counsel | RLF IP litigation associate/attorney; appeared on the 2021 notices. |
Delaware local counsel (earlier phase) — Richard L. Renck
- Richard L. Renck (D. Del. #3893) — signed the July 27, 2018 letter to Magistrate Judge Fallon (D.I. 80) as "Counsel for Defendant MModal, LLC." Renck is a Wilmington patent litigator (himself a former clerk and long active in D. Del. patent practice). The retrieved signature block showed only his name and bar number, so I could not confirm from that document which firm he was with at the time — I don't want to state the firm without a source.
National/lead trial counsel — Latham & Watkins LLP ("Of Counsel" block, D.I. 542–543)
| Name | Firm / Office | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| David K. Callahan | Latham & Watkins, 330 N. Wabash Ave., Suite 2800, Chicago, IL | Senior patent trial lawyer and nationally known first-chair; formerly of Kirkland & Ellis. Effectively the lead strategist for MModal/3M. |
| Kevin C. Wheeler | Latham & Watkins, 555 Eleventh St. NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC | IP litigation partner; also appeared in the MModal-side PTAB work. |
| Alan M. Billharz | Latham & Watkins, Washington, DC | IP litigation attorney on the defense team. |
| Stephen D. O'Donohue | Latham & Watkins, 885 Third Ave., New York, NY | Appears in the correspondence record (e.g., the 6/28/2021 email from "S. O'Donohue to A. Desai" quoted in D.I. 505); former Federal Circuit law clerk, patent appellate/litigation specialist. |
| Meiran Yin | Latham & Watkins, 140 Scott Drive, Menlo Park, CA | IP litigation attorney on the defense team. |
PTAB counsel for MModal (petitioner side, related IPRs)
In the parallel IPR proceedings MModal filed against Nuance's patents (e.g., IPR2019-00306 on U.S. 8,738,403), MModal's counsel of record included:
- Jonathan M. Strang (Reg. No. 61,724) — Latham & Watkins, Washington, DC
- Inge A. Osman (Reg. No. 74,480) — Latham & Watkins, Washington, DC
These are well-documented in the PTAB filings (e.g., Papers served Aug. 28, 2019, listing counsel "for Petitioner MModal LLC").
Earlier-appearing defense counsel (appearance-stage)
The aggregated UniCourt attorney list for this docket (https://unicourt.com/case/pc-db1-nuance-communications-inc-v-mmodal-llc-et-al-[591693](/patent/591693)) identifies these as defendant/counterclaimant attorneys:
- L. Norwood Jameson — Duane Morris LLP, Atlanta
- Anthony J. Fitzpatrick — Duane Morris LLP, Boston
- Christopher S. Kroon — Duane Morris LLP, Boston
- Richard L. Renck, Stephen D. O'Donohue, Kevin C. Wheeler, David K. Callahan (as above)
The UniCourt page also indicates "24 more attorneys available," i.e., the list is incomplete/aggregated rather than a docket-verified appearance list. Duane Morris also appears in MModal-side PTAB papers (D. Joseph English, Patrick D. McPherson and Patrick C. Muldoon, Duane Morris LLP, Washington, DC), suggesting Duane Morris handled part of the early defense/PTAB work before or alongside Latham.
In-house counsel
None identified. No MModal or 3M in-house attorney appears in the filings retrieved; I cannot rule out that in-house attorneys were involved behind the scenes or listed on sealed/redacted entries.
Caveats and sourcing limits
- Not every entry verified. The docket exceeds 546 entries, with multiple sealed and redacted documents (e.g., D.I. 542, 543, 545 redaction motions). Counsel listed here are drawn from reproduced signature blocks and PTAB filings, which are reliable for those documents, but I did not verify pro hac vice admissions or withdrawal entries for every attorney.
- The Duane Morris names come from an aggregator (UniCourt) and from PTAB papers, not from a district-court appearance I retrieved directly — treat those as "appeared in the matter" rather than confirmed counsel of record on the district docket.
- Richard Renck's firm at the time of D.I. 80 was not shown in the excerpt I retrieved; I have not named it.
- Richard L. Renck, Nicole Pedi, Kelly Farnan all have extensive D. Del. patent dockets; the one-line experience notes above are general professional background, not case-specific findings from this record.
Context: opposing (plaintiff) counsel, for completeness
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP — Brian E. Ferguson (DC), Robert S. Magee (Redwood Shores, CA), Anish R. Desai (NY), Stephen Bosco (DC), Sudip Kundu, Amanda Branch (Redwood Shores). Designated Nuance's lead/back-up counsel in the IPRs (IPR2018-014