Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. v. Security Camera Warehouse

I'll research this case and the parties before drafting the overview.

Let me verify the docket and look for IPR activity and the defendant's profile.

Case Overview — Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. v. Security Camera Warehouse, Inc., No. 1:22-cv-01414-RGA (D. Del.)

The parties. Plaintiff Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. is a Canadian entity with a stated principal place of business at 560 Baker Street, Suite 1, Nelson, British Columbia — not an operating technology company. Stanford's NPE Litigation Database classifies it under the "Acquired patents" asserter category, and third-party compilations describe it as founded in 2019 and stocked with patents acquired from Intellectual Ventures and other sellers; it is one of the most prolific filers in the country, appearing repeatedly on high-frequency-plaintiff lists (one Chinese IP-protection-center analysis tallies hundreds of cumulative suits with roughly 96% ending in settlement — treat that precise count as third-party data, not a court record). Its Delaware filings were handled by David W. deBruin, then of Napoli Shkolnik LLC. Defendant Security Camera Warehouse, Inc. ("SCW") is the mirror image: a small, real operating business — a Delaware-incorporated, Asheville, North Carolina–based direct-to-consumer seller of professional-grade IP cameras, NVRs, access-control and alarm systems, founded in 2010, a 2018 Inc. 5000 honoree, with roughly 30 employees and commonly estimated revenue in the single-digit millions (revenue figures come from third-party estimators such as Kona Equity and should be treated as approximate). SCW sells its own branded lines (e.g., Admiral, Imperial, Corporal, and "Warrior" active-deterrence cameras) sourced from overseas manufacturers rather than designing image sensors itself. See https://npe.law.stanford.edu/patent/[6972790](/patent/6972790); https://www.inc.com/profile/security-camera-warehouse; https://www.highergov.com/awardee/security-camera-warehouse-inc-[10060176](/patent/10060176)/; https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/litigation/cedar-lane-technologies-v-security-camera-warehouse-patsnap/

The patent and the accused technology. The case is docketed against U.S. Patent No. 6,972,790, "Host interface for imaging arrays" (issued Dec. 6, 2005; application filed Dec. 21, 2000, claiming priority to Jan. 21, 2000; inventor Mark Suska). In one line: it claims an interface — preferably integrated on the same die as a CMOS image sensor — that buffers imaging-array data and clock signals in a memory (e.g., a FIFO), signals the host processor when a threshold quantity of data has accumulated, and then lets the processor drain the buffer at its own clock rate, decoupling the sensor's rigid timing from the microprocessor bus (independent claim 1 recites a memory, a "signal generator" responsive to the quantity of data in memory, and a transfer-control circuit clocked by the processor system). Cedar Lane's parallel complaints in this campaign pleaded the '790 alongside its divisional, U.S. Patent No. 8,537,242 (same title, method claims reciting FIFO counting, limit comparison and interrupt generation); the metadata for this case lists only the '790, and Stanford's database likewise records only the '790 for this docket, although Patsnap's record states that three patents were asserted and lists the '527 patent's title among the "products & marks" — a discrepancy I could not resolve without the complaint itself. The accused instrumentalities are described in the complaint only as "Exemplary Defendant Products" identified in claim-chart exhibits, i.e., SCW's camera/NVR products and their embedded image-sensor-to-processor interface; consistent with the rest of the campaign, the claim charts were not publicly filed, so the specific models and the infringement theory are not verifiable from public sources. Complaints in the same wave: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.wawd.[317813](/patent/317813)/gov.uscourts.wawd.317813.1.0.pdf; parallel-complaint analyses at https://ai-lab.exparte.com/case/dct/txwd/6:22-cv-00654/doc/analysis/1

Posture, venue, and why it matters. Filed October 26, 2022 in the District of Delaware and assigned to Judge Richard G. Andrews, the case ended 208 days later when Cedar Lane filed a Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i) notice dismissing all claims with prejudice, each side bearing its own costs and fees; the case closed May 22, 2023, with no answer-based merits ruling, no claim construction, no Markman, and no publicly reported damages figure, injunction, or license (https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/litigation/cedar-lane-technologies-v-security-camera-warehouse-patsnap/). Delaware mattered here for mundane but decisive reasons: it is the defendant's state of incorporation (venue under § 1400(b) is essentially conceded), and Judge Andrews was already managing dozens of Cedar Lane dockets, which the related-case lists in later-filed Cedar Lane suits make explicit — this case sits inside a single-day wave of sequential filings (1:22-cv-01402 through -01414) and inside a broader September–October 2022 sweep against the video-surveillance supply chain (Longse, Logipix, Moxa, NEXCOM, Silent Sentinel, Vimar, Vantage Robotics, and others), which IPWatchdog covered in its November 3, 2022 roundup (https://lexdana.ai/lawsuits/[188123](/patent/188123); https://ipwatchdog.com/2022/11/03/patent-filings-roundup-old-ip-edge-filings-explode-no-new-discretionary-denials-fortress-backed-divx-rolls/). The case is notable for four reasons: (1) it is a textbook downstream-reseller assertion — the patented subject matter is sensor-level interface circuitry that SCW neither designs nor manufactures, making the "making/using/selling" theory against a retailer of Asian-manufactured cameras the whole ballgame; (2) it illustrates the cost-asymmetry economics of the campaign, where a ~30-person small business faces a Silicon Valley–scale patent suit and the matter resolves in about seven months with prejudice and no public payment disclosed; (3) timing pressure — Patsnap estimates the '790's term ran out around August 1, 2023 and lists it as inactive, so the 2022 filing wave was among the last realistic windows to monetize it, which plausibly explains both the volume and the speed of dispositions; and (4) validity overhang — the '790 has been asserted in roughly 50+ suits per Patsnap's data, yet that dataset records no PTAB validity challenge to it, in contrast to Cedar Lane's '177 patent, whose asserted independent claim the Board held unpatentable in Unified Patents, LLC v. Cedar Lane Technologies on February 12, 2021 (https://www.unifiedpatents.com/insights) — meaning the '790 carried its early-2000 priority date and prior-art exposure into every negotiation, including this one.

Sourcing caveats. (a) The dismissal order itself and the complaint's exhibit contents are not in the public record I could access; the dismissal language above comes from the recorded docket text quoted by Patsnap. (b) Whether the '242 (or '527) was pleaded against SCW is unresolved — the case metadata and Stanford say '790 only, Patsnap says three patents. (c) No PTAB proceeding on the '790 was located, but absence in the databases searched is not proof of absence. (d) No public settlement amount, royalty rate, or license is documented; the with-prejudice dismissal with each party bearing its own costs is consistent with a confidential resolution but does not establish one.

Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. v. Security Camera Warehouse, Inc.

1:22-cv-01414 (D. Del.) — Case Outcome Analysis

Bottom line: This was a short, uncontested-lifecycle NPE strike suit that never reached any substantive merits ruling. Filed 2022-10-26, it terminated 208 days later, on 2023-05-22, by Cedar Lane's own notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice under Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(a)(1)(A)(i), with each side bearing its own costs and fees. There was no Rule 12 motion, no transfer motion, no IPR stay motion, no Markman, no summary judgment, no trial, and no appeal. The dismissal language — with prejudice, mutual cost-bearing — is the classic signature of a negotiated, almost certainly paid, resolution.

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2. Chronological developments

2.1 Filing and initial pleadings

Cedar Lane — a Canadian NPE headquartered in Nelson, British Columbia, formed in 2019 and built on acquired patent assets — filed on 2022-10-26 in the District of Delaware. Per the Stanford NPE Litigation Database, this is one of the '790-patent suits in Cedar Lane's portfolio campaign (it appears on both the '790 and the '6473527 case lists).

The docket record of termination references three asserted patents, not one. The Patsnap case record for 1:22-cv-01414 states "3 patents asserted" and identifies the accused product/mark families as "Host interface for imaging arrays" and "Module and method for interfacing analog/digital converting means and JPEG compression means." That maps to Cedar Lane's standard Delaware/Waco trio: US 6,972,790; US 6,473,527; US 8,537,242. Your case metadata lists only the '790 patent — you should reconcile that against the docket's own AO-120 patent report (Doc. 3 in comparable Cedar Lane Delaware complaints), which typically lists all asserted numbers.

Docket gap: I could not retrieve a PACER/RECAP image of the SCW docket showing a filed Answer, affirmative defenses, or counterclaims. In sibling Cedar Lane Delaware cases that survived past the answer deadline, defendants did answer and counterclaim (e.g., Cedar Lane v. Intevac, 1:21-cv-01763, Answer filed 2022-02-07; Cedar Lane v. Videology, 1:22-cv-00157, Answer + Counterclaim). Whether SCW did so here is unverified — the 208-day pendency is consistent either with an answer-and-negotiate path or with an extension/stipulation path followed by settlement.

2.2 Pre-trial motions of substance

None. No motion to dismiss, no § 1404(a) transfer motion (notable, since SCW's operations are in Asheville, North Carolina — venue in Delaware was almost certainly predicated on SCW's Delaware incorporation), no motion to stay pending IPR, no summary judgment practice. The case never generated a reported opinion or a written order beyond the dismissal.

2.3 Claim construction (Markman)

Never reached. A 208-day case in D. Del. before Judge Andrews would not have received a Markman hearing, and no claim construction order exists.

2.4 Discovery milestones

No strategically significant discovery events are documented — no motion to compel, no Morton International / § 285 discovery into Cedar Lane's ownership or financing, no third-party subpoenas surfaced in public reporting. This is itself the strategic story: SCW did not litigate the patent's validity or Cedar Lane's standing hard enough to generate motion practice.

2.5 Trial, verdict, post-trial motions

None. No trial date, no verdict, no JMOL/Rule 59/Rule 54(d) fee motion. The dismissal expressly provides that "Each party shall bear its own costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees" — foreclosing a § 285 fee petition.

2.6 Final disposition

Voluntary dismissal with prejudice, 2023-05-22. Verbatim from the notice:

"Plaintiff Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. ('Plaintiff'), pursuant to Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, hereby provides notice that it dismisses with prejudice all claims by Plaintiff against Defendant Security Camera Warehouse, Inc. Each party shall bear its own costs, expenses, and attorneys' fees."

Because the dismissal is with prejudice, the judgment is final and claim-preclusive as to the claims asserted; there is no live appeal and no Federal Circuit activity. Note the mild procedural oddity: a Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i) notice is normally unilateral and available only before the defendant serves an answer or MSJ — so the "with prejudice" formulation here is best read as a settlement-papered dismissal, plausibly accompanied by a license or covenant. No license or assignment to SCW is recorded at the USPTO in the Patsnap patent-standing record for US 6,972,790, which weakly suggests a confidential settlement without a recorded exclusive grant.

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3. Parallel PTAB proceedings on US 6,972,790

None identified. The Patsnap patent litigation record for US 6,972,790 lists "Validity challenges: None recorded," and no IPR, PGR, or CBM involving the '790 patent appears in the retrievable PTAB docket sources. Defendants across the campaign did not go to the PTAB — a notable contrast with, e.g., the Fortress/DivX and Arigna matters that dominate contemporaneous PTAB coverage (see IPWatchdog's Patent Filings Roundup, 2022-11-03 and 2022-02-25).

Effect on this litigation: zero — no IPR was ever filed to trigger a Fintiv-style discretionary-denial or stay analysis, and the dismissal came before any petition could have been instituted (institution itself takes ~6 months).

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4. Strategic context: why this case mattered (and why it didn't)

1. It was one filing in a mass-filing wave. The SCW complaint was filed the same day as a cluster of Cedar Lane Delaware suits: v. Boston Dynamics (1:22-cv-01410), v. Skydio (1:22-cv-01408), v. YI Technologies (1:22-cv-01403), v. Adesso (1:22-cv-01413), v. Video Network Security (1:22-cv-01405), v. Turing Video (1:22-cv-01402), v. Autel Robotics (1:22-cv-01411), all on 2022-10-26, plus W.D. Tex. filings that day against STMicroelectronics (6:22-cv-01120) and Motorola Solutions (6:22-cv-01111) — IPWatchdog's roundup of 2022-11-03 captures the wave. Delaware, not Waco, was chosen for these; Judge Andrews handled roughly 18% of Cedar Lane's docket historically.
2. The patent was on a very short fuse. US 6,972,790 ("Host interface for imaging arrays," inventor Mark Suska; granted 2005-12-06; earliest priority 2000-01-21) carries an estimated expiry of 2023-08-01 per Patsnap. That is ~10 weeks after the dismissal. That expiration date is the single most important fact in the case: Cedar Lane could not credibly threaten multi-year litigation, and every defendant's rational reservation price collapsed toward nuisance value.
3. The campaign's economics were nuisance-value settlements. The clearest documented data point is Cedar Lane v. Imilab/Reolink (W.D. Tex., filed 2021-06-11 on the '790, '867, and '242 patents), settled 2021-08-09 for US$10,000 plus a perpetual worldwide license — reported in the Reolink/Imilab IPO disclosure coverage (IPRdaily, 2024-04-01). A comparable non-litigated exit (Cedar Lane v. ZKTeco USA, 2:23-cv-01693, D.N.J.) was dismissed without prejudice in 41 days on 2023-05-04.
4. The dismissal form differs from the norm in a telling way. ZKTeco got a without-prejudice dismissal; SCW got a with-prejudice dismissal with a mutual costs waiver. With-prejudice NPE dismissals in this campaign generally follow a payment, whereas without-prejudice dismissals follow a free walk. This is inference, not record evidence — the settlement amount, if any, is not public.

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5. Present posture

Closed and final. No pending motions, no appeal, no PTAB proceeding, no Federal Circuit mandate. The '790 patent itself is expired (est. 2023-08-01), so no further assertions of the '790 are possible on the original term. Cedar Lane's later activity visible in 2024–2026 dockets (v. Agfa-Gevaert, E.D. Tex. 2:24-cv-00898; v. Johnson Controls, E.D. Tex. 2:25-cv-00815, voluntarily dismissed 2025-10-17; the 2026 S.D.N.Y. financial-services campaign against Cantor Fitzgerald, Citibank, Clear Street, etc., under US 8,577,782) is on different patents and does not revive this case.

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6. Verification checklist / evidentiary caveats

I want to be explicit about what is sourced versus inferred, because this is a low-paper case with almost no secondary coverage:

• Firm facts (sourced): filing date 2022-10-26; D. Del. 1:22-cv-01414; Judge Andrews; termination date 2023-05-22; Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i) with-prejudice dismissal with mutual costs waiver (verbatim); 208-day duration; '790 expiry estimate; Cedar Lane's plaintiff counsel of record reported as David W. deBruin (Napoli Shkolnik LLC) with Isaac Rabicoff appearing in the campaign's Texas filings.
• Inferred / needs PACER confirmation: (a) whether SCW filed an Answer and counterclaims; (b) the exact patent set (metadata says '790 only; Patsnap says three); (c) SCW's defense counsel — Patsnap records "Not recorded," and I found no evidence of who represented SCW; (d) whether any consideration passed; (e) whether a venue/transfer motion was ever docketed.
• Recommended PACER pulls: D. Del. 1:22-cv-01414, Dkt. 1 (complaint + AO-120 report, to fix the patent list), Dkt. 2–4 (summons/disclosure), and any entry in the 5–9 range (answer, stipulation, or notice of

Counsel of Record — Plaintiff Cedar Lane Technologies Inc.

Case: Cedar Lane Technologies, Inc. v. Security Camera Warehouse, Inc., No. 1:22-cv-01414-RGA (D. Del.) — filed Oct. 26, 2022; dismissed with prejudice via Rule 41(a)(1)(A)(i) notice, case closed May 22, 2023; assigned to Judge Richard G. Andrews.
Sources: Patsnap litigation record for 1:22-cv-01414 (https://www.patsnap.com/resources/blog/litigation/cedar-lane-technologies-v-security-camera-warehouse-patsnap/); Stanford NPE Litigation Database, US 6,972,790 (https://npe.law.stanford.edu/patent/6972790).

Attorneys appearing for the plaintiff

What I could and could not verify

• The docket-derived record is thin. The 1:22-cv-01414 case record as aggregated by Patsnap lists a single plaintiff-side attorney — David W. deBruin, Napoli Shkolnik LLC — and states expressly that he "is recorded as counsel for plaintiff Cedar Lane Technologies." I could not pull the native PACER/CourtListener docket sheet for 1:22-cv-01414 within this session (CourtListener's RECAP page for this docket was not surfaced by search), so I cannot give you the full appearance list, pro hac vice orders, or the exact docket entry numbers for the appearances.
• No pro hac vice activity is confirmed. In parallel Cedar Lane cases, out-of-state counsel (e.g., Isaac Rabicoff of Rabicoff Law LLC; Philip P. Mann of Mann Law Group PLLC) moved for admission pro hac vice and appeared for Cedar Lane — but those appearances are from other venues (W.D. Tex.; W.D. Wash., see Cedar Lane v. Alps Alpine, 2:23-cv-00001, Compl. signature block). I have no evidence Rabicoff, Mann, or any other attorney entered an appearance in 1:22-cv-01414, and I am not asserting they did.
• Post-dismissal dissociation, unconfirmed for this docket. On May 17, 2023, Paul J. Napoli of Napoli Shkolnik filed letters with Judge Andrews stating that Napoli Shkolnik LLC was dissociating from Cedar Lane's plaintiff-side counsel — this appears on the dockets of sibling cases (1:23-cv-00336 Vantage Robotics, D.I. 9; 1:23-cv-00337 Video Network Security, D.I. 11; also v. Opticon, D.I. 8). Because 1:22-cv-01414 closed on May 22, 2023 — five days later — a similar letter was likely filed there, but I could not confirm its presence on this docket. If it was filed, deBruin and Berman ceased to be counsel of record at or about the close of the case.
• No sealed filings, no in-house counsel of record. Nothing in the available record indicates Cedar Lane appeared through in-house counsel or that any appearance was sealed; Cedar Lane (a Nelson, BC, Canada entity) litigated through outside counsel.
• Caption/patent note. The metadata here lists only US 6,972,790; the same docket is indexed elsewhere as asserting three patents (the '790 patent plus US 8,537,242 and, in the related campaign, US 6,473,527). The plaintiff-side counsel identification is unaffected.

Practical bottom line

For the Security Camera Warehouse matter, the answer is David W. deBruin of Napoli Shkolnik LLC (Wilmington, Delaware), lead counsel of record, most likely with William S. Berman as co-counsel. If you need the definitive, entry-level list (including any pro hac vice orders and the May 2023 dissociation letter), pull the PACER docket for 1:22-cv-01414-RGA directly — the case's short life (208 days, no answer or motion practice reflected in the aggregated record) means the appearance history is short, but the free aggregators do not expose every entry for this particular docket.

I'll research the counsel of record for Security Camera Warehouse in this case.

Let me pull the actual docket and party/counsel records.

Bottom line

I could not verify any counsel of record for Security Camera Warehouse, Inc. in Cedar Lane Technologies Inc. v. Security Camera Warehouse, Inc., No. 1:22-cv-01414 (D. Del.). The best available docket-derived source affirmatively records no defense counsel — Patsnap's litigation record for the case lists the Defendant's counsel field as "Not recorded" (i.e., no attorney appearance captured in the docket data), and I found no answer, motion, pro hac vice application, or notice of appearance by any attorney for SCW in any accessible source. I am therefore not going to supply names, firms, or experience notes, because doing so would require invention.

What the record shows

Why this likely means "no appearance," not "sealed"

• The entire lifespan was 208 days, ending in a plaintiff-initiated with prejudice dismissal with each side bearing its own fees — the classic signature of a quick pre-answer settlement or license, and the parallel Cedar Lane D. Del. wave closed the same way (e.g., No. 1:22-cv-00011, Cedar Lane v. Excelitas, dismissed ~3 months in; No. 1:22-cv-00014, Cedar Lane v. MGM, dismissed 8 days after filing).
• In that wave, defense-side appearances show up plainly on the docket when they occur — e.g., in Cedar Lane v. EPIX, No. 1:22-cv-00050, D. Del., D.I. 11 was a motion for pro hac vice appearance of Neil J. McNabnay and Lance E. Wyatt (Baker Botts) alongside Delaware counsel Jeremy Anderson, followed by an answer and counterclaims; in Cedar Lane v. Excelitas, No. 1:22-cv-00011, D.I. 9 sought PHV for Robert R. Lucic, Peter A. Nieves and Bryanna K. Devonshire (Ohlandt, Greeley) via Delaware counsel Kelly Farnan (Farnan LLP). No comparable filing exists in the SCW docket data I retrieved.
• I saw no indication of sealing in this case. That said, I could not retrieve the primary docket text (CourtListener/PACER) for 1:22-cv-01414 itself in this session — my searches returned aggregators and the Stanford NPE database entry rather than the D.I.-by-D.I. docket.

Caveat and recommended verification

This finding rests on secondary aggregators (Patsnap, Stanford NPE, Unified Patents, DocketBird) rather than the court's own docket sheet; my attempt to reach the CourtListener RECAP page for 1:22-cv-01414 returned no usable result. Treat the "no defense counsel" conclusion as high-confidence but not primary-source confirmed.

To close the gap definitively:

1. Pull the PACER docket for 1:22-cv-01414-RGA from 10/26/2022 to 5/22/2023 and look for D.I. entries of type "MOTION for Pro Hac Vice Appearance," "NOTICE of Appearance," "ANSWER," "STIPULATION," or "Letter" — any of these would name defense counsel.
2. Check D.I. 5–15 in particular (the window between service and the May 2023 dismissal), and the Rule 41 notice itself, which in the Cedar Lane wave was typically filed by plaintiff's counsel only.
3. If SCW never appeared, the correct answer to your question is literally: there was no counsel of record for the defendant in this action. The party that negotiated the dismissal-with-prejudice may have been represented informally by in-house or outside counsel who never entered an appearance, but no source I found identifies that person, and I won't guess.