Hornet Networks, Inc.

Hornet Networks, Inc., commonly known as Hornet, is a private technology company founded in 2011. While its legal entity "Queer Networks, Inc." is listed in some sources, the company operates primarily as Hornet. It maintains its main headquarters in West Hollywood, California, USA, with additional offices in Los Angeles and Cape Town, and a globally distributed team. Hornet has approximately 51-100 employees and serves over 100 million users worldwide.

Hornet operates as a leading queer social network, providing a digital platform primarily for gay men to connect. Its core offerings include the Hornet gay chat app, the Hornet Live gay live-streaming app, and HornetX, a map-based web application. The company's mission is to create and expand a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community, offering a platform for connection, original content, and news related to lifestyle, travel, entertainment, and social justice.

In terms of patent litigation, Hornet Networks, Inc. exhibits the posture of an operating company defending against assertion. The company has been named as a defendant in one tracked case, with no instances as a plaintiff. This single case, Trinity Info Media, LLC v. Hornet Networks, Inc., was filed in the California Central District Court in 2021.

The notable case involves Trinity Info Media, LLC, which appears to be a Non-Practicing Entity (NPE). Trinity Info Media's asserted patents in related litigation, concerning a "poll-based networking system" for connecting users, have been found invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 101 by the Federal Circuit as directed to an abstract idea.