Aml Ip LLC v. Chick-fil-A, Inc.
Active- Docket:
- 7:24-cv-00327
- Court:
- Texas Western District Court
- Filed:
- 2024-11-18
Patents:7177838
A lawsuit filed by Aml Ip LLC in the Western District of Texas. As of April 2026, the case is active.
Defendant
Chick-fil-A, Inc.
1 case as defendant.
Company profile
Chick-fil-A, Inc. is a privately held, family-owned American fast-food chain headquartered in College Park, Georgia. Founded by S. Truett Cathy, its origins trace back to the Dwarf Grill, which opened in 1946. The first Chick-fil-A branded restaurant opened in 1967. The company is one of the largest restaurant chains in the United States, generating over $21 billion in systemwide sales in 2023. As a private company, it is not publicly traded and remains under the ownership of the Cathy family. Various sources report employee numbers in the tens or hundreds of thousands.
The company's operations are focused on a limited menu specializing in chicken sandwiches. Its core product is the "original chicken sandwich," a breaded, pressure-cooked boneless chicken breast served on a toasted bun with dill pickle chips. The menu also includes chicken nuggets, salads, wraps, breakfast items, and waffle fries. Chick-fil-A operates thousands of restaurants across the United States, primarily as franchised locations, and has expanded into Canada and Puerto Rico. The company is known for its distinctive franchise model, where it retains ownership of the restaurant real estate.
Based on its litigation history, Chick-fil-A is an operating company that defends against patent lawsuits. The company's single tracked case shows it as a defendant, not a plaintiff, which is typical for a large operating business targeted by patent assertion entities. The case was filed by Aml Ip LLC, a non-practicing entity (NPE) that acquires patents to assert against other companies, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, a popular venue for patent litigation.
The tracked case, Aml Ip LLC v. Chick-fil-A, Inc., was filed on November 18, 2024. The lawsuit is part of a broader litigation campaign by Aml Ip, which has sued numerous other retail and restaurant chains over patents related to e-commerce technology. The specific patent asserted against Chick-fil-A, U.S. Patent No. 7,177,838, is described as covering a "Method and Apparatus for Conducting Electronic Commerce Transactions Using Electronic Tokens." This pattern indicates that Chick-fil-A, like many large corporations with customer-facing technology, is a target for NPEs asserting broad e-commerce patents.