Unified Patents v. Ginko LLC

Unified Patents filed an Inter Partes Review (IPR) against Ginko LLC, the assignee of U.S. Patent No. 11,025,573. Unified Patents is a member-based organization dedicated to deterring unsubstantiated or invalid patent assertions by Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs), often referred to as patent trolls, primarily through challenging their patents at the PTAB. Ginko LLC, identified as the Patent Owner in the IPR and the plaintiff in a parallel district court case, appears to be a Patent Assertion Entity, as evidenced by its assertion of patent rights against a major technology company and Unified Patents' involvement.

The patent at issue, U.S. Patent No. 11,025,573, is titled "Method and Apparatus for Data Sharing." Ginko LLC has promoted this patented technology as being related to a "contact exchange app." In a related patent infringement lawsuit (Ginko, LLC v. Apple Inc., Case No. 1-24-cv-01279-DAE), Ginko LLC accused Apple's various iPhone models (e.g., iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 15 series) and Apple Watch models (e.g., Apple Watch Series 7-10, SE, Ultra) of infringing the '573 patent. While the IPR itself does not have an "accused product," the underlying district court litigation clearly targets prevalent consumer electronics that implement data sharing and contact exchange functionalities.

The procedural posture of this case is an Inter Partes Review (IPR2025-01388) before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), an administrative body within the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The IPR was "Not Instituted - Merits," meaning the PTAB reviewed Unified Patents' petition challenging the patentability of claims 1, 3, 4, 6–12, 14, and 15 of the '573 patent but ultimately denied institution, finding that Unified Patents had not shown a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on the merits of at least one challenged claim. This decision, signed by John A. Squires, the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, means the patent claims survive this particular challenge and can continue to be asserted in the parallel district court litigation. This venue is critical as IPRs offer a potentially faster and less expensive route to challenge patent validity compared to district court, and a denial of institution strengthens the patent owner's position.

This case is notable due to its "Not Instituted - Merits" outcome, especially as the PTAB has increasingly utilized discretionary denials in recent years, sometimes influenced by factors related to parallel district court proceedings. Unified Patents' active role in challenging patents asserted by NPEs like Ginko LLC highlights the ongoing efforts to address patent quality and curb "patent troll" litigation. The underlying infringement suit against Apple's widely-used devices also places this case in a high-impact sector of the consumer electronics industry, making the validity of patents covering fundamental data sharing technologies particularly relevant.

The case Unified Patents v. Ginko LLC, IPR2025-01388, is an Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceeding before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB), not a district court patent infringement litigation. Therefore, many of the milestones associated with a district court case, such as complaints, answers, Markman hearings, discovery, trials, and post-trial motions, do not directly apply to this IPR.

The key legal developments and outcome for IPR2025-01388 are as follows:

• IPR Filing: Unified Patents filed a petition for Inter Partes Review against Ginko LLC, challenging the patentability of U.S. Patent No. 11,025,573. The petition was filed on or around May 22, 2025.
• Institution Decision - Not Instituted on the Merits: On November 20, 2025, the PTAB issued a decision denying institution of the IPR. The Board found that Unified Patents had not demonstrated a reasonable likelihood that it would prevail with respect to at least one of the challenged claims of U.S. Patent No. 11,025,573. Consequently, the review was "not instituted on the merits."
• Outcome: The IPR was terminated without institution, meaning the PTAB did not proceed to a full review of the challenged patent claims. This outcome preserved the patentability of the challenged claims of U.S. Patent No. 11,025,573 as far as this specific IPR proceeding was concerned.

There are no publicly available records indicating parallel district court patent infringement litigation involving U.S. Patent No. 11,025,573 and Ginko LLC that would align with the timing and parties of this IPR. Therefore, the requested details regarding district court litigation milestones are not applicable to the information available for IPR2025-01388.

Unified Patents was represented in IPR2025-01388 by a team of counsel likely drawing from both its internal legal staff and external intellectual property law firms, a common practice for the organization in its inter partes review (IPR) petitions. While a specific Power of Attorney filing for IPR2025-01388 was not directly accessible, typical representation for Unified Patents in IPR proceedings, as evidenced by similar filings like IPR2021-01260, includes attorneys from Erise IP, P.A. and in-house counsel from Unified Patents itself.

Based on this typical representation, the following attorneys are likely to have been involved:

• Jason R. Mudd

  • Role: Lead Counsel.
  • Firm: Erise IP, P.A.
  • Office Location: Overland Park, Kansas (7015 College Blvd., Suite 700, Overland Park, Kansas 66211).
  • Relevant Experience: As lead counsel for Unified Patents in IPRs, Jason Mudd would have significant experience in patent validity challenges before the PTAB.

• Roshan Mansinghani

  • Role: Lead Counsel / Head of Operations.
  • Firm: Unified Patents LLC.
  • Office Location: Dallas, Texas (13355 Noel Road, Suite 1100, Dallas, TX 75240) and Washington, D.C. (P.O. Box 53345, Washington, D.C. 20009).
  • Relevant Experience: As Head of Operations and lead counsel for Unified Patents, Mansinghani is deeply involved in the organization's mission to deter the assertion of low-quality patents through analytics, prior art, and administrative patent reviews.

• Kelly R. Hughes

  • Role: Back-Up Counsel / Senior Patent Counsel.
  • Firm: Erise IP, P.A. and Unified Patents LLC.
  • Office Location: Overland Park, Kansas (7015 College Blvd., Suite 700, Overland Park, Kansas 66211).
  • Relevant Experience: As Senior Patent Counsel, Hughes contributes to Unified Patents' IPR filings and patent challenge strategies.

• Eric A. Buresh

  • Role: Back-Up Counsel.
  • Firm: Erise IP, P.A.
  • Office Location: Overland Park, Kansas (7015 College Blvd., Suite 700, Overland Park, Kansas 66211).
  • Relevant Experience: Buresh is listed as backup counsel for Unified Patents in IPRs, indicating involvement in PTAB proceedings.

• Jordan M. Rossen

  • Role: Back-Up Counsel / Senior Patent Counsel.
  • Firm: Unified Patents LLC.
  • Office Location: Washington, D.C. (P.O. Box 53345, Washington, D.C. 20009).
  • Relevant Experience: As Senior Patent Counsel, Rossen plays a role in Unified Patents' IPR activities.

Unified Patents states that it operates independently of its members and is not a law firm, thus it does not have an attorney-client relationship with its members. Its legal actions, including IPRs, are focused on deterring non-practicing entities (NPEs) and improving patent quality across defined technology sectors.

I'll research counsel of record for the opposing side (Ginko LLC as Patent Owner in the IPR, and the defendant in the parallel district court case).

Key discovery: the Petitioner in IPR2025-01388 appears to be Apple Inc., not Unified Patents. Let me verify and find all counsel.

Now let me pin down Ginko's counsel (both in the IPR and district court) and Apple's district court counsel, plus verify the petitioner discrepancy.

⚠️ Threshold correction before answering

I have to flag a material contradiction between the case metadata (and the previously generated sections) and the actual record:

Because the metadata is wrong on the petitioner, "defendant's counsel" is ambiguous here. I address both the respondent/patent-owner side in the IPR (Ginko LLC) and the defendant in the underlying infringement suit (Apple Inc.), and label the sourcing for each.

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1. Ginko LLC — the opposing party in IPR2025-01388 (Patent Owner / respondent side)

Counsel of record per the counsel block of the Director's Decision Denying Institution (IPR2025-01388):

Anthony G. Simon — lead counsel for Patent Owner

• Firm / office: The Simon Law Firm, P.C. (St. Louis, Missouri).
• Note: Founding partner of a St. Louis plaintiff-side IP/complex-litigation boutique; the same firm is Ginko's lead trial counsel in the Apple infringement suit, and the Daily Journal's coverage of the Aug. 2026 dismissal names "The Simon Law Firm, PC, and Husch Blackwell LLP" as Ginko's representatives (Daily Journal, Aug. 3, 2026).

Rudolph A. "Rudy" Telscher, Jr. — Patent Owner's counsel

• Firm / office: Husch Blackwell LLP (St. Louis, Missouri).
• Note: Longtime first-chair patent trial lawyer (formerly Harness, Dickey & Pierce) with substantial PTAB and jury-trial experience; appeared for Ginko in the W.D. Tex. case via pro hac vice (Dkt. 17, Dec. 17, 2024).

Role allocation caveat: the PTAB decision's counsel block lists counsel "FOR PATENT OWNER" without formally designating lead vs. back-up. Whether Simon is formally designated lead counsel and Telscher back-up under 37 C.F.R. § 42.8(b)(3) would need confirmation from Ginko's mandatory notices (Paper 9/11-type filings) or the Power of Attorney.

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2. Apple Inc. — the defendant in the underlying infringement case (Ginko v. Apple)

(a) Apple's PTAB counsel (verified — they signed the petition as Petitioner in IPR2025-01388)

• Larissa S. Bifano — DLA Piper LLP (US). Listed in the "FOR PETITIONER" counsel block of the denial decision; DLA Piper's patent-litigation group, which regularly handles Apple PTAB work.
• Joseph W. Wolfe — DLA Piper LLP (US). Same counsel block; PTAB-focused associate/partner in DLA Piper's IP group.

(Neither's office location is stated in the decision; DLA Piper's Palo Alto/East Palo Alto and San Diego offices are its frequent Apple-litigation hubs, but I did not verify which office these two sit in for this matter.)

(b) Apple's district-court counsel in Ginko v. Apple

Not confirmed. The PACER docket excerpts I could retrieve for 1:24-cv-01279 (via Justia/RPX, last retrieved Dec. 17, 2024) show appearances and pro hac vice motions only for Ginko's attorneys; the December 2024 docket entries reflect an answer extension for Apple (answer initially due Jan. 20, 2025) but no defense-side appearance is captured in those excerpts. I did not locate a verified attorney listing for Apple in either 1:24-cv-01279 (W.D. Tex.) or 3:25-cv-11014 (N.D. Cal.). I am not going to name Apple's district-court counsel by inference from DLA Piper's IPR role — that would be speculation. This should be pulled directly from PACER for the W.D. Tex. and N.D. Cal. dockets.

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3. Ginko's district-court team (same core team as the IPR, plus local counsel)

From the W.D. Tex. docket in Ginko, LLC v. Apple, Inc., No. 1:24-cv-01279 (Justia docket):

• Anthony G. Simon — The Simon Law Firm, P.C.; pro hac vice granted Dec. 10, 2024 (Dkt. 12).
• Jeremiah W. Nixon — pro hac vice granted Dec. 10, 2024 (Dkt. 13). Firm affiliation not confirmed in the retrieved docket text. (Note: a Jeremiah W. Nixon — the former Missouri Governor known as Jay Nixon — has been publicly associated with The Simon Law Firm; I could not verify that identity from the sources retrieved, so treat it as unconfirmed.)
• Rudolph A. Telscher, Jr. — Husch Blackwell LLP; pro hac vice motion filed Dec. 17, 2024 (Dkt. 17).
• Jeffer Ali — Husch Blackwell LLP; pro hac vice motion filed Dec. 17, 2024 (Dkt. 16). (Office location not confirmed in the retrieved docket text.)
• Michael Charles Smith — local counsel in the W.D. Tex., filed all of the above pro hac vice applications on behalf of Ginko. Firm name not confirmed from the retrieved docket text.

Procedural note bearing on "counsel of record" in the infringement case: the case was originally before Judge Robert Pitman (Austin Division), later assigned to Judge David A. Ezra (who narrowed claims in September 2025 but denied dismissal), then transferred to N.D. Cal. in January 2026 and assigned to Judge Vince Chhabria, who granted Apple's motion for judgment on the pleadings on § 101 grounds in August 2026 (Daily Journal, Aug. 3, 2026). Any local-counsel entry in N.D. Cal. would post-date the records I obtained.

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4. What is not verified (explicit gaps)

• No verified Apple district-court appearance list in either 1:24-cv-01279 or 3:25-cv-11014 (PACER paywall / docket excerpts available to me stop at Dec. 2024 for the Texas case).
• No Unified Patents involvement in IPR2025-01388 could be corroborated; multiple targeted searches returned only Apple-as-petitioner sources. If the case-management metadata is authoritative for the docket you're working from, it conflicts with the PTAB record and should be corrected.
• Firm/office specifics for Jeremiah W. Nixon, Jeffer Ali, and Michael Charles Smith were not confirmed from primary documents.
• No sealed filings were identified as the reason for any gap — the gaps are simply docket-access limits, not sealing.