Litigation

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. v. Funai Electric Co., Ltd.

2:15-cv-00239

Patents at issue (1)

5870087

Summary

Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. sued Funai Electric Co., Ltd. et al. in E.D. Tex.; outcome not established.

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.

Case Overview

Parties. Plaintiff Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. is not a classic NPE/PAE. It is the Singapore-domiciled IP-holding and licensing arm of Avago Technologies, the semiconductor group that acquired LSI Corporation in 2014 and Broadcom Corporation in 2016 and now operates as Broadcom. In its PTAB mandatory notices Avago identified Broadcom Ltd., Broadcom Corporation, Avago Technologies Limited and Avago Technologies U.S., Inc. as real parties in interest, and its licensing division sits in Allentown, Pennsylvania — the old Agere/LSI licensing operation. The '087 patent itself issued to LSI Logic Corporation, and Avago's complaints describe the portfolio as descending from LSI, Agere, Lucent, AT&T and Bell Labs R&D. Defendant Funai Electric Co., Ltd. (Osaka, Japan) is a large consumer-electronics manufacturer best known as an OEM/ODM of televisions, DVD/Blu-ray players and set-top products sold under the Philips, Magnavox, Sylvania and Emerson brands, acting with U.S. affiliates Funai Corporation, Inc. (NJ), P&F USA

Key legal developments & outcome

Major rulings, motions, claim construction, settlements, and the present posture or final disposition.

I'll research this case systematically, starting with the docket and any written opinions.

Plaintiff representatives

Counsel of record for the plaintiff(s): attorneys, firms, and roles (lead counsel, of counsel, local counsel).

I'll research the docket and counsel appearances for this case.

Let me locate the specific E.D. Tex. docket and its counsel entries.

The metadata and docket appear to diverge; let me pin down the actual E.D. Tex. docket and any Funai-related case.

Plaintiff's Counsel — Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.

Threshold correction (flagging a metadata conflict)

Before identifying counsel, I have to flag a discrepancy that materially affects the answer.

The case metadata's caption does not match the docket as reported by third-party litigation databases. Case No. 2:15-cv-00239 (E.D. Tex.), filed February 20, 2015, is indexed in Patexia's litigation database and in the related-matters table of Avago's own PTAB mandatory notices as Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. v. ASUSTeK Computer, Inc. et al. — not against Funai:

The Avago-vs.-Funai thread on the '087 patent ran through N.D. Cal. No. 3:15-cv-04307 (LSI Corp., Agere Systems LLC & Avago v. Funai Electric Co., filed Sept. 21, 2015) and the ITC investigations 337-TA-837 (2012–14) and 337-TA-1047 (2016–17) — not through a Funai E.D. Tex. case. The metadata caption appears to conflate those matters. I therefore report the Avago-side counsel that is actually documented in the record, and separately identify what I could not verify for the E.D. Tex. docket itself.

Documented Avago/LSI-side counsel of record (sourced)

Attorney Role Firm / office Source & note
David E. Sipiora (SBN 124951) Lead signing attorney for plaintiffs; the consistent signatory on Avago/LSI pleadings and stipulations Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP, 1400 Wewatta St., Suite 600, Denver, CO Signs as "Attorneys for Plaintiffs LSI Corporation, Agere Systems LLC, and Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd." — N.D. Cal. 3:15-cv-04307, Dkt. 86 (Oct. 30, 2015), Dkt. 103, Dkt. 105, Dkt. 112, Dkt. 113. Longtime LSI/Agere patent enforcer, including the '087, '663, '958 and '867 patents in ITC 337-TA-837.
Kristopher L. Reed (SBN 235518) Of counsel / case team (plaintiff side) Kilpatrick Townsend, Denver, CO (later appearing at Holland & Knight LLP, Dallas) Named on Avago/LSI pleadings, Dkt. 86 and Dkt. 112 in 3:15-cv-04307; later appears as counsel for LSI Corp. / Avago Technologies U.S. in N.D. Cal. matters (Holland & Knight, One Arts Plaza, Dallas).
Matthew C. Holohan (SBN 239040) Of counsel / case team (plaintiff side) Kilpatrick Townsend, Denver, CO Named on Avago/LSI pleadings, Dkt. 105 and Dkt. 112 in 3:15-cv-04307; earlier appeared for the same plaintiffs in N.D. Cal. 3:15-cv-04307/3:15-cv-04525 stipulations.
Kenneth S. Chang (SBN 211925) Of counsel (plaintiff side) Kilpatrick Townsend, San Francisco, CA (Two Embarcadero Center) Named on Dkt. 86 (Oct. 30, 2015) in 3:15-cv-04307 as attorney for LSI/Agere/Avago; appears in later LSI/Avago N.D. Cal. matters.
Robert J. Artuz (SBN 227789) Of counsel (plaintiff side) Kilpatrick Townsend, San Francisco, CA Named on the Dec. 28, 2015 stipulation (Dkt. 112) as attorney for plaintiffs LSI/Agere/Avago.

Corroboration of firm-level role: Patexia's law-firm profile lists Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton as plaintiff-side counsel in both Avago v. ASUSTeK, N.D. Cal. 3:15-cv-04525 (Oct. 1, 2015) and LSI Corp. et al v. Funai, N.D. Cal. 3:15-cv-04307 (Sept. 21, 2015) (https://services.patexia.com/lawfirm/kilpatrick-townsend-stockton/cases/58).

Client-side contacts (not counsel of record): Avago's licensing organization is the Broadcom Intellectual Property and Licensing Division, 1110 American Parkway NE, Allentown, PA (named as the notice address for Avago in the 2017 Funai settlement, ITC Inv. No. 337-TA-1047, Joint Motion to Terminate, Oct. 30, 2017). No in-house attorney is identified in the documents I could retrieve.

What I could not verify — stated plainly

  • I did not obtain the E.D. Tex. 2:15-cv-00239 docket sheet or any appearance notices from it. My searches returned the docket only through aggregated databases (Patexia, PTAB mandatory notices, Stanford NPE database), none of which exposed the attorney list. I therefore cannot name, and will not guess at, the attorney who filed the E.D. Tex. complaint or any E.D. Tex. local counsel in that case.
  • Local counsel is unconfirmed. E.D. Tex. practice virtually always pairs an out-of-state IP firm with a Marshall/Tyler-based local firm, and the 2015 Avago wave would have followed that pattern — but no source I found identifies the Texas firm retained, so any name I supplied would be fabricated.
  • Caution against misattribution: Some of the retrieved records name Michael J. Newton, Derek Scott Neilson and Sang (Michael) Lee of Alston & Bird (Dallas) appearing in the Avago/Funai/ASUSTeK N.D. Cal. stipulations — these attorneys appeared for ASUSTeK, not for Avago, and should not be listed as plaintiff's counsel. Similarly, Kevin W. Kirsch, David A. Mancino, Scott R. Stanley and Jared A. Brandyberry of Baker & Hostetler (Cincinnati/Denver) and T. Cy Walker and Shawnna M. Yashar (Baker & Hostetler, Washington) were Funai's counsel in the N.D. Cal. and ITC matters.
  • Role designations ("lead trial counsel" vs. "of counsel") are inferred from signature-block ordering and signing frequency, not from a formal designation order; no source identified a court-approved lead-counsel designation for Avago.

Recommended verification steps

Pull from PACER for 2:15-cv-00239: Dkt. 1 (complaint signature block), the summons returns, and every "Notice of Attorney Appearance" and pro hac vice order; then confirm against the court's live attorney list. Cross-check the parallel E.D. Tex. Avago filings from February 2015 (the 2:15-cv-0023x series) to see whether the same Kilpatrick Townsend team plus a single Texas local firm appears across the campaign — that pattern, if confirmed, would let you state the plaintiff's E.D. Tex. counsel with confidence rather than inference.

Defendant representatives

Counsel of record for the defendant(s): attorneys, firms, and roles (lead counsel, of counsel, local counsel).

I'll research the docket and identify defense counsel.