Omnitek Partners LLC has joined a growing list of patent plaintiffs targeting the Automotive sector. The NPE has sued Ford (6:20-cv-00436), GM (6:20-cv-00437), Here Global (6:20-cv-00438), Mazda (6:20-cv-00439), Toyota (6:20-cv-00440), and Zhejiang Geely ( Volvo) (6:20-cv-00441) over the provision of vehicle navigation services and vehicle infotainment systems that incorporate navigation services, asserting two patents generally related to electronically generating driving directions without text entry.
The patents-in-suit (8,224,569; 8,645,057) have respective issue dates in July 2012 and February 2014, belonging to a family of five with earliest estimated priority date in October 2005. Thomas Spinelli is the sole named inventor for the family. Spinelli identifies himself as the "co-managing partner" with Scully Scott Murphy & Presser PC, an IP law firm based in Garden City, New York, further characterizing his position with Omnitek, from January 2001 to the present, as "administrative partner".
January 2001 is the month of Omnitek's formation in New Jersey. The entity's stale website describes itself as "design[ing], develop[ing], manufactur[ing], and implement[ing] products and solutions for clients within the military, medical, and commercial markets". The identified CEO is Jay Rastegar, who appears to be Jahangar S. Rastegar, a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Stony Brook University and also a named inventor on a good portion of the roughly 175 issued US patents held by Omnitek.
Each of the defendants in Omnitek's new campaign, which appears to be its first, is accused of infringing both asserted patents, except for GM, which is accused of infringing only the '569 patent. Ford is accused of infringement through Sync vehicle infotainment software; GM, the Chevrolet MyLink vehicle infotainment software; Here Global, Here WeGo service; Volvo, the Volvo Sensus Navigation System; Mazda, the Mazda Connect Infotainment System; and Toyota, the Toyota Entune vehicle infotainment system. 5/29, Western District of Texas.
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The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
