Cooler Screens — patent litigation as defendant

Cooler Screens is a private technology company founded in 2017 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The company, which also operates under the name CoolerX, has raised over $100 million in funding from investors including Verizon Ventures and Microsoft's M12 venture fund. While employee counts vary, recent estimates range from around 50 to 200 people. Cooler Screens was co-founded by Arsen Avakian, former CEO of Argo Tea; Greg Wasson, former CEO of Walgreens; and Glen Tullman, founder of Livongo.

Cooler Screens replaces traditional glass doors on commercial freezers and coolers in retail stores with IoT-enabled smart screens. These digital displays serve as a merchandising and advertising platform, showing shoppers the products inside while also presenting targeted, high-resolution advertisements and promotions. The system uses sensors and cameras to gather anonymous data on consumer behavior, such as dwell time, to display contextually relevant content based on factors like time of day or weather. The company provides its screens to retailers at no cost, generating revenue from advertising and data analytics services sold to brands. Cooler Screens has partnered with major retailers, including Walgreens, Kroger, and GetGo.

As an operating company, Cooler Screens' patent litigation posture is that of a defendant. The company's record of zero cases as a plaintiff and one as a defendant indicates it is focused on its core business operations while being targeted by patent assertions.

Cooler Screens is a defendant in a single tracked case, Alpha Modus, Corp. v. Cooler Screens. The plaintiff, Alpha Modus, Corp., is a subsidiary of a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: AMOD) and operates as a patent assertion entity focused on AI-driven retail technologies. Alpha Modus has filed numerous infringement lawsuits against a wide range of companies in the retail technology sector, often in plaintiff-friendly venues like the Eastern District of Texas. The litigation against Cooler Screens aligns with Alpha Modus's broader campaign to enforce its portfolio covering technologies related to in-store analytics, real-time consumer behavior analysis, and digital displays.