Defendant
14 cases as defendant.
Technology Properties Limited (TPL Group) is a privately held California corporation founded in 1988–89 and headquartered in Cupertino, California (court filings also give a San Jose address). It is not publicly traded; its size — headcount and revenue — is not disclosed in public sources, so no reliable figure can be given. Founder and chairman Dan Leckrone led the firm, with Charles H. Moore, inventor of the Forth programming language, serving as CTO. TPL operates through affiliates including Alliacense Limited (its licensing arm), MCM Portfolio LLC (holder of the "Core Flash" portfolio), and, from 2005, Phoenix Digital Solutions, a joint venture with Patriot Scientific Corp.
TPL is best characterized as an intellectual-property holding and licensing entity rather than a manufacturing operating company. Its principal asset is the Moore Microprocessor Patent (MMP) portfolio — seven U.S. patents plus European and Japanese counterparts, asserted to cover fundamental microprocessor techniques such as separate CPU/IO clocks ('336), multiple instruction fetch ('584), and on-chip oscillator/embedded memory ('148). The portfolio was jointly owned with Patriot Scientific and licensed by Alliacense; Intel, AMD, HP, Fujitsu, Sony, Nikon and others took licenses. Corporate materials also describe TPL as commercializing products (multi-core processors, packaging technologies), but these claims are unverified.
Litigation posture: TPL is predominantly an asserting entity, though the tracked data shows a two-way pattern (2 cases as plaintiff, 3 as defendant). It filed infringement suits in the plaintiff-friendly Eastern District of Texas (Marshall) before Judge T. John Ward — e.g. Technology Properties Ltd. et al. v. Fujitsu Limited (2005) — while also defending declaratory-judgment actions brought by accused manufacturers.
Notable cases: A group of roughly 20 Japanese electronics manufacturers (including Toshiba) filed DJ suits in N.D. Cal. (Oakland) in 2005 seeking declarations of non-infringement/invalidity; HTC filed a parallel DJ action (N.D. Cal., Judge Fogel), where a 2013 jury found HTC infringed the '336 patent and awarded a $958,560 lump-sum royalty. Separately, co-inventor Moore sued TPL and Alliacense in 2010 alleging fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, and ARM won a Federal Circuit non-infringement affirmance in 2008.
Barco N.V. brought a declaratory judgment action on three MMP patents (specific patents not confirmed in the narrative). The case was related to and consolidated with the HTC and Acer/Gateway actions.
Declaratory judgment action filed December 1, 2008, by Barco N.V. against Technology Properties Ltd., Patriot Scientific Corp., and Alliacense Ltd. concerning the MMP portfolio. Various orders issued in 2010–2011, and the '584 patent was non-asserted via covenant. The narrative does not clearly identify the '915 patent as specifically asserted in this action.
HTC filed a declaratory-judgment action of invalidity/non-infringement as to the '336, '584, '749 and '148 patents. TPL counterclaimed for infringement of the '336, '749, '148 and '890 patents. After trial, the jury found HTC literally infringed claims 6, 7, 9, 13, 14 and 15 of the '336 patent with a $958,560 lump-sum royalty, not willful; JMOL denied and final judgment entered for TPL. Other patents were dismissed or carved out.
ASUSTeK brought a declaratory judgment action naming US 5,440,749, US 5,809,336, US 5,809,623, US 5,809,638, and US 5,784,584; the complaint was amended July 10 and September 23, 2008. The case settled December 18, 2008, and all claims were dismissed February 25, 2009.
One of five declaratory judgment suits filed in December 2005 by roughly 20 Japanese electronics manufacturers against Patriot, TPL and Charles Moore, seeking declarations that the '584, '336 and '148 patents were not infringed and invalid.
Mirror-image declaratory judgment action brought by HTC Corp. against Technology Properties Ltd. It was joined with the related 5:08-cv-00877 case for claim construction involving the '148 and '336 patents.
Ownership dispute over the '336, '148, '584, '749, '915, '890 and '703 patents. It settled in June 2005, with TPL receiving the exclusive right to enforce/license the patents and a 50/50 net revenue split.
Declaratory-judgment action of non-infringement/invalidity of the '336, '584, '749, '890 and '148 patents against Technology Properties Ltd., et al.
Declaratory-judgment action involving the same Moore Microprocessor Portfolio family as the '336 patent.
Patriot Scientific sued Technology Properties Ltd., Daniel Leckrone, and Charles Moore over ownership of the Moore Microprocessor Portfolio patents expressly including US 5,440,749 and others. The dispute was resolved/settled in June 2005, with TPL granted responsibility for commercialization and licensing.
Related N.D. Cal. declaratory judgment action by ASUSTek/ASUS against TPL, Patriot, MCM Portfolio, and Alliacense, related to the Acer and HTC cases. The narrative does not provide an outcome.
A group of about 20 Japanese electronics manufacturers filed five declaratory-judgment suits in December 2005 in the Northern District of California against Patriot, TPL, and Moore, seeking non-infringement and invalidity of three jointly owned MMP patents. The actions were consolidated/litigated through 2008-2010 before Judge Fogel. The '703 connection is portfolio-level and not identified as one of the three litigated patents.
Acer and others filed a declaratory-judgment action in 2008 in the Northern District of California against TPL/Alliacense, part of the N.D. Cal. DJ group concerning the '336, '749, '148, and '890 patents. No '703 connection was identified by number.
Ownership and inventorship dispute over the seven Moore Microprocessor Patent portfolio patents, including U.S. Patent No. 5,604,915. The district court entered a stipulated final judgment in or about June 2005 dismissing Patriot's claims with prejudice and declaring Charles Moore at least a co-inventor and TPL at least a co-owner of all seven patents in suit, expressly including the '915 patent.