Based on available information, George Street Partners operates as a licensing agent for the patent-assertion entity Aloft Media, LLC. In court filings related to patent disputes, George Street Partners has been described as Aloft Media's "de facto licensing department," with Todd Schmidt identified as its president. Specific corporate details such as a headquarters location, year of founding, or employee count for George Street Partners could not be independently verified from public sources.
The firm's operations center on patent licensing and assertion. Acting on behalf of Aloft Media, George Street Partners sends demand letters to operating companies, accusing them of infringing patents held by Aloft and seeking licensing payments. The patent asserted in the company's tracked litigation, U.S. Patent No. 10,372,793, reportedly covers a method for using drop-down menus on a website. Aloft Media has been characterized as a non-practicing entity (NPE) or "patent troll" in court filings.
George Street Partners' patent litigation posture is that of a defendant in declaratory judgment actions. This is consistent with its role as a licensing agent for an NPE. Companies that receive demand letters have initiated lawsuits against George Street Partners and its principal, Aloft Media, seeking court declarations that they do not infringe the asserted patent and that the patent is invalid. The two tracked cases against George Street Partners were filed by operating companies in the Northern District of Indiana and the Western District of North Carolina.
The two notable cases tracked are declaratory judgment actions filed by Brotherhood Mutual Insurance Company and Schaefer Systems International, Inc. Both lawsuits were filed in response to licensing demands from George Street Partners and Aloft Media. The complaints seek to invalidate the asserted patent and find non-infringement, with at least one complaint also alleging violations of a state's Bad Faith Assertions of Patent Infringement Act.