Groupon

Groupon, Inc. (NASDAQ: GRPN) is a publicly traded local-commerce company headquartered at 35 West Wacker Drive, Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 2008 by Andrew Mason, Eric Lefkofsky and Bradley Keywell and went public in November 2011. Roughly 1,700–2,100 full-time employees are reported depending on the source and period; trailing revenue is approximately $498M. It remains independent, with Pale Fire Capital SE and Lefkofsky among the largest holders and Dusan Senkypl as CEO.

Operations. Groupon operates a two-sided online marketplace that connects consumers with local merchants, selling discounted vouchers and deals. Reported segments are North America and International, with categories spanning beauty and wellness, food and drink, things to do and local experiences, travel (hotels, airfare, packages), and goods such as electronics, apparel and home items. Distribution is primarily through its website, mobile apps, email and push notifications, and affiliate channels. It is an operating company, not a patent-holding entity.

Litigation posture. Based on the tracked data, Groupon appears as a defending party only: 0 cases as plaintiff, 1 as defendant. That profile is typical of an operating company targeted by a patent assertion entity rather than of an active enforcer or two-way litigant.

Tracked case. Plano Encryption Technologies, LLC v. Groupon, Inc., No. 2:16-cv-01093, was filed October 4, 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas (Marshall Division) before Judge Rodney Gilstrap, a venue heavily used by patent plaintiffs. The plaintiff is an NPE formed in Texas in 2015 as a subsidiary of Koba Holdings, LLC; RPX reporting describes it as a single-employee licensing entity asserting patents originally issued to Intel, including U.S. 5,991,399 and 5,974,550, directed to digital content protection and remote security protocols in mobile applications. The case was consolidated into a lead case and dismissed on June 9, 2017.