After quick dismissals in separate cases filed previously against Hyundai and Spireon, and after a late November notice of settlement was filed in a suit against Mazda, 21ST CENTURY GARAGE LLC (21st Century Garage) has kept its automotive litigation campaign alive, suing PACCAR (2:20-cv-00369) in a new Eastern District of Texas complaint. Three of the seven patents-in-campaign, of disparate origins, are asserted, with PACCAR accused of infringement through the provision of certain Peterbilt trucks that include active cruise control with braking (ACB), the Peterbilt SmartLINQ vehicle diagnostic platform, and Peterbilt trucks with CoPilot Truck (which facilitates vehicle tracking).
21st Century Garage received its patents, including those now asserted against PACCAR (5,978,737; 6,208,948; 6,584,403), as well as the four others previously at issue in this campaign (6,240,365; 6,332,628; 6,526,335; 6,526,460), among a group of 73 US assets, and a number of foreign counterparts in Asia and Europe, from Hanger Solutions, LLC in a February 2020 transaction. Hanger Solutions is one of several Georgia entities, associated with Atlanta-based monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group), to have acquired thousands of patent assets from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) in late 2019. That divestiture vaulted IPinvestments Group to the top of the list of recipients of IV divestitures over the last several years.
The patents asserted by 21st Century Garage originate with Daimler Chrysler (the '628, '460, and '948 patents, generally related to a vehicle communications systems, a side-impact airbag, and vehicle diagnostics, respectively); Intel (the '737 patent, generally related to hazard detection and distraction avoidance for a vehicle); or individual inventors (the '335 patent, generally concerning an automobile personal computer system; and the '365 and '403 patents, generally related to in-vehicle information systems).
The address provided in USPTO records for 21st Century Garage is that of a condominium in Atlanta, Georgia; formation records in that state do not provide any information about the entity's management, only identifying as "Organizer" an individual affiliated with Georgia Registered Agent, LLC (a corporation services business).
The new PACCAR case has been initially assigned to District Judge Rodney Gilstrap. 11/27, Eastern District of Texas.
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