University of Tennessee sues Amazon and IBM for patent infringement
The University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UoT), the organisation that licenses the university’s IP, has sued Amazon, HP and IBM, among others, for patent infringement.
The UoT filed its suits at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee on Tuesday, May 2 and Wednesday, May 3.
According to the suit, the companies allegedly infringed the UoT’s patents, US numbers 7,454,411, 8,099,733, 6,741,983, 7,272,612, and 7,882,106.
The patents cover “parallel processing and high performance database design”.
Amazon, the suit added, infringed the patents through Amazon Redshift, a warehouse service in the cloud.
IBM is alleged to have infringed through its database product, IBM DB2.
The patents-in-suit have been cited in patents and patent applications by companies such as Microsoft and Google, said the suit.
The UoT asked for damages, a judgment that the defendants’ infringement was wilful, enhanced damages, attorneys’ fees and a jury trial.
A spokesperson for Amazon told WIPR that it has a longstanding practice of not commenting on litigation and declined to comment.
A spokesperson for Microsoft added that it has nothing to share at this time.
Join us for a FREE webinar - The Halo effect: walking the wilfulness tightrope - on May 16
Today’s top stories
Jay-Z hit with baseball cap TM claims
Simmons & Simmons promotes three to partner in IP
Hashtag trademarking jumps 64% in one year, says CompuMark
Amateur NFL Governing body sue rivals for unfair trademark use
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories like this sent straight to your inbox
