Innovative Display Technologies LLC v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. et al.
terminated- Docket:
- 2:14-cv-00222-JRG
- Filed:
- 2014-03-13
IDT asserted the '563 Patent against Honda entities. The case was terminated.
Defendant
1 case as defendant.
I'll verify the company's details with web searches.
Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, LLC ("HMA"), also branded the Honda Alabama Auto Plant, is an Alabama limited liability company at 1800 Honda Drive, Lincoln, Alabama (about 40 miles east of Birmingham). Production began November 14, 2001. HMA is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (Torrance, CA), which is itself wholly owned by Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (TYO: 7267; NYSE: HMC); HMA itself is not publicly traded. Honda's own site cites 4,500+ associates, while local reporting puts roughly 7,000 people on site daily across shifts, including contract workers.
Operations. HMA is Honda's largest light-truck plant worldwide and the sole global production source for the Honda Odyssey minivan, Pilot SUV, Passport SUV, and Ridgeline pickup, plus the V-6 engines powering them; it also built the Acura MDX beginning in 2013. Per Honda, the 4.9-million-square-foot facility has capacity for 340,000 vehicles and 340,000 V-6 engines annually, with cumulative capital investment of about $3 billion. In-plant work covers stamping, welding, painting, plastic injection molding, aluminum die-casting and machining, engine assembly, and final vehicle assembly; output ships to dozens of countries.
Litigation posture. An operating company defending against an NPE, consistent with the case data: 0 plaintiff cases, 1 defendant case. The sole tracked matter is Innovative Display Technologies LLC v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. et al., No. 2:14-cv-00222 (E.D. Tex., Marshall Division, filed March 13, 2014), where HMA was a co-defendant with American Honda Motor, Honda of America Mfg., and Honda Manufacturing of Indiana. The Marshall Division is a notoriously plaintiff-friendly venue.
Context. Plaintiff Innovative Display Technologies LLC is a Plano, Texas licensing entity (no operating business) whose real parties in interest are Acacia Research Group LLC and Acacia Research Corporation (Stanford NPE Litigation Database; PTAB filings). It asserted "light emitting panel assembly" patents ('547, '194, '177, '660, '974, '816, '563, '956) covering LCD backlights and automotive lighting against a broad group of automakers and electronics firms. The Honda suit was part of a 2014 E.D. Tex. cluster targeting Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Volkswagen; several asserted patents were later challenged in PTAB inter partes reviews.
IDT asserted the '563 Patent against Honda entities. The case was terminated.