DCT

3:22-cv-00018

Verna IP Holdings LLC v. Everbridge Inc

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I. Executive Summary and Procedural Information

  • Parties & Counsel:
  • Case Identification: 3:22-cv-00018, E.D. Va., 01/10/2022
  • Venue Allegations: Venue is alleged to be proper based on Defendant having a regular and established place of business in the district, committing acts of infringement in the district, and conducting substantial business in Virginia.
  • Core Dispute: Plaintiff alleges that Defendant’s emergency and mass notification products and services infringe a patent related to methods for providing instant, multi-language voice alerts to mobile devices in a specified region.
  • Technical Context: The lawsuit concerns the field of mass notification systems, which are used by governments and enterprises to automate and accelerate communication during critical events such as public safety threats or IT outages.
  • Key Procedural History: The complaint does not mention any prior litigation, licensing history, or administrative proceedings related to the patent-in-suit.

Case Timeline

Date Event
2011-05-24 U.S. Patent No. 8,265,938 Priority Date
2012-09-11 U.S. Patent No. 8,265,938 Issue Date
2022-01-10 Complaint Filing Date

II. Technology and Patent(s)-in-Suit Analysis

U.S. Patent No. 8,265,938 - "Voice alert methods, systems and processor-readable media" (Issued Sep. 11, 2012)

The Invention Explained

  • Problem Addressed: The patent describes a need for an improved and efficient method of broadcasting instant voice alerts to remote electronic devices, particularly during emergencies or for security monitoring, when people are mobile and away from their homes or offices ('938 Patent, col. 1:24-44).
  • The Patented Solution: The invention provides systems and methods that can detect an event or emergency, generate a text message based on that event, convert the text message into a digitized voice alert, and then transmit that voice alert for automatic playback on remote devices ('938 Patent, col. 2:4-14). A key feature is the ability to convert the voice alert into multiple languages for consecutive broadcast, ensuring wider comprehension ('938 Patent, col. 2:35-44; Fig. 14).
  • Technical Importance: The technology aims to overcome the limitations of text-only alert systems by providing automated, multi-lingual voice announcements that do not require the user to look at or interact with their device to receive the critical information ('938 Patent, col. 14:20-35).

Key Claims at a Glance

  • The complaint alleges infringement of one or more of claims 1-18, with the preliminary claim chart focusing on the elements of claim 18 (Compl. ¶¶8-9).
  • Independent Claim 18 is a processor-readable medium claim with the following essential elements:
    • Code to determine an emergency situation affecting a specified region.
    • Code to generate and convert a text message indicative of the emergency into a digitized voice alert.
    • Code to convert the digitized voice alert into more than one language for consecutive broadcast.
    • Code to transmit the digitized voice alert through specific towers of a cellular communications network for distribution to at least one wireless handheld device in communication with those specific towers.
  • The complaint does not explicitly reserve the right to assert dependent claims but makes a general assertion of claims 1-18.

III. The Accused Instrumentality

Product Identification

The accused instrumentalities are Defendant Everbridge’s enterprise software applications and SaaS-based platforms for critical event management, including its Emergency/Mass Notification Services and associated mobile applications (Compl. ¶¶7-8, p. 4).

Functionality and Market Context

The complaint alleges that Everbridge's platform automates and accelerates organizational responses to critical events like public safety threats (e.g., active shooters, severe weather), IT outages, and cyber-attacks (Compl. p. 4). The platform is alleged to provide voice and text alerts in multiple languages to mobile devices, featuring "text-to-speech functionality" (Compl. p. 5). A screenshot of the "One Mobile App for Critical Event Managers" shows a mobile application interface for administrators who use smartphones and tablets to manage critical event responses (Compl. p. 6). The complaint references a 2012 Gartner report recognizing Everbridge as a leader in the U.S. Emergency/Mass Notification Services market, suggesting its commercial importance (Compl. p. 4).

IV. Analysis of Infringement Allegations

'938 Patent Infringement Allegations

| Claim Element (from Independent Claim 18) | Alleged Infringing Functionality - |:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |:----------------------|:-------------------|
| code to: determine an emergency situation affecting a specified region and requiring emergency notification of said emergency situation to wireless hand held device users in said specified region; | Everbridge's platform is used during "public safety threats such as active shooter situations, terrorist attacks or severe weather conditions" and "critical business events such as IT outages," which affect organizations and their personnel. | ¶9, p. 4 | col. 14:45-50 |
| generate and convert a text message indicative of said emergency situation into a digitized voice alert; | Everbridge's platform provides "text to voice alerts" using "text-to-speech functionality." - | ¶9, p. 5 | col. 14:50-58 |
| convert said digitized voice alert into more than one language from among a plurality of languages for broadcast of said digitized voice alert in consecutively different languages through said at least one wireless hand held device; | Everbridge's platform supports "13 languages in text-to-speech functionality" and provides "voice alerts in different languages to mobile devices in emergency situations." - | ¶9, p. 5 | col. 2:37-44 |
| and transmit said digitized voice alert through specific towers of a cellular communications network in said specified region for distribution of an automatic emergency announcement... | Everbridge's "One Mobile App for Critical Event Managers" on smartphones and tablets receives alerts, which the complaint alleges are provided "through a city's cell tower to a person's mobile device." The visual evidence shows the mobile app interface on a smartphone. (Compl. p. 6). | ¶9, p. 6 | col. 14:59-65 |

  • Identified Points of Contention:
    • Scope Questions: A central question may be whether the accused mobile application, which likely transmits data over the general internet via cellular data networks (e.g., LTE, 5G), meets the claim limitation of transmitting "through specific towers of a cellular communications network." The defense may argue this language requires a more targeted broadcast technology, such as the Cell Broadcast-based system used for Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA), rather than a standard one-to-one data transmission to an app user.
    • Technical Questions: The complaint asserts that Everbridge's system transmits alerts "through a city's cell tower to a person's mobile device" (Compl. p. 6). A key evidentiary question will be what proof Plaintiff can offer that the accused system operates in the specific manner recited by the claim, as opposed to functioning as a standard internet-based application that communicates with a central server, with the final delivery to the mobile device handled by the general infrastructure of a cellular carrier.

V. Key Claim Terms for Construction

  • The Term: "transmit said digitized voice alert through specific towers of a cellular communications network"
  • Context and Importance: The construction of this phrase appears central to the infringement analysis. The dispute will likely focus on whether "specific towers" requires a targeted, geographically-based broadcast from designated cellular towers (akin to the PLAN/WEA system described in the patent), or if it can be read more broadly to cover any data transmission that happens to pass through any cellular tower to reach an app on a smartphone. Practitioners may focus on this term because the accused product appears to be a standard mobile application, which may not use the specialized broadcast functionality implied by the claim language.
  • Intrinsic Evidence for Interpretation:
    • Evidence for a Broader Interpretation: The patent’s general description of transmitting alerts "through a network" (e.g., col. 2:11) could be argued to support a broader reading where any use of a cellular network suffices.
    • Evidence for a Narrower Interpretation: The patent repeatedly discusses its application in the context of the PLAN (Personal Localized Alert Network) and the distribution of alerts to "all remote electronic devices in communication with the specific towers in the specified region" (col. 3:1-9; col. 14:59-65). This language suggests a broadcast to all devices in a geographic area served by specific towers, which may support a narrower construction that excludes one-to-one app communications.

VI. Other Allegations

  • Indirect Infringement: The complaint alleges that Everbridge induces infringement by actively encouraging and instructing its customers on how to use its products and services for remote alert notification in an infringing manner (Compl. ¶11).
  • Willful Infringement: Willfulness is alleged based on Defendant’s knowledge of the patent "from at least the date of the filing of the lawsuit" (Compl. ¶11, fn. 1; ¶12, fn. 2). The Plaintiff explicitly reserves the right to amend this date of knowledge based on discovery.

VII. Analyst’s Conclusion: Key Questions for the Case

  1. A core issue will be one of claim scope and technical operation: Can the claim phrase "transmit... through specific towers of a cellular communications network" be construed to read on a modern mobile application that sends and receives data over the general-purpose internet, or is it limited to a more specialized, geographically-targeted broadcast system as described in the patent's specification?

  2. A second key question will be evidentiary: What evidence can Plaintiff provide to demonstrate that the accused Everbridge platform, which appears to be a sophisticated software-as-a-service application, performs the specific, sequential steps of the asserted method claim, particularly regarding the generation, conversion, and transmission of alerts in the precise manner claimed?