SmartOrder LLC, styling itself as "Smart Order LLC", has launched litigation over a single patent generally related to optimizing delivery services for customers at a "restaurant, shopping, travel, or entertainment venue". The defendants so far are Bloomin' Brands (Carrabba's Italian Grill) (7:25-cv-00115) in the Western District of Texas and Dine Brands Global (Applebee's Services) (2:25-cv-00280), Panera Bread (2:25-cv-00282), Target (2:25-cv-00283), The Cheesecake Factory (2:25-cv-00285), and Wendy's (2:25-cv-00286) in the Eastern District of Texas. Targeted is the provision of the defendants' respective mobile ordering, pickup, and curbside to-go services.
SmartOrder was formed (as "SmartOrder LLC", not "Smart Order LLC") in New Mexico on August 7, 2024, with no public information available concerning its management or personnel. These new complaints were filed by Rabicoff Law LLC, which has lately come to represent two bulk patent litigation filing operations: that of established figure Jeffrey M. Gross and that of an entrant, new in 2024, to this business, Eric Zautner. Rabicoff Law has begun to file so many new cases that it has occasionally made glaring errors—see, e.g., "Counsel for Multiple Bulk Filers Gets Wires Crossed" (February 2025). Whether SmartOrder is eventually tied to Gross or to Zautner, it is likely to conduct its litigation in file-and-settle fashion, as campaigns definitively linked to either appear to unfold that way.
Gross is an inventor who turned to patent monetization years ago. Some of his cases have landed before Delaware Chief Judge Colm F. Connolly, the operation of whose standing orders has revealed that Gross has, at least in some of his litigation campaigns, proceeded with funding. For details, see "Volteon Cleans Up Prior Filing and Sues Two More" (February 2025). Zautner is a geography teacher at the Blue River campus of the Metropolitan Community College in Kansas City, Missouri who appears to have turned to patent monetization just last year, outed as the figure behind New Mexico plaintiff Pointwise Ventures LLC, also by Judge Connolly's standing orders.
Gross-linked and Zautner-linked plaintiffs account for an outsized number of the patent complaints filed over the past 12 months, particularly since the demise of former top-filer IP Edge LLC. See "Campaign over Data Storage Patent Launched by Rabicoff-Repped Plaintiff" (March 2025) for details.
The patent-in-suit (9,390,424) issued to sole named inventor Bradley Marshall Hendrickson in July 2016 with estimated priority date in April 2007. The patent comprises a family of one. No assignment away from Hendrickson has been recorded with the USPTO, but SmartOrder pleads ownership. The case against Carrabba's Italian Grill has been assigned to District Judge David Counts; the others, to District Judge Rodney Gilstrap. 3/10, Bloomin' Brands (Carrabba's Italian Grill), Western District of Texas; 3/10, Dine Brands Global (Applebee's Services), Panera Bread, Target, The Cheesecake Factory, Wendy's, Eastern 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.
