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A California federal court has considered whether to certify various groups of defendants into classes in a patent infringement lawsuit.
The Real Estate Alliance Ltd. (“REAL”) owns by assignment two expired method patents (“Patents”) for locating real estate properties through the use of a zoom-enabled map on a computer. In 2005, REAL brought a lawsuit to enforce the Patents against a real estate broker in Pennsylvania- click here to read a summary of the earlier case. The Pennsylvania litigation is now stayed, pending the resolution of the below matter. Since the Patents expired in 2006 and 2008 respectively, the current litigation focuses on the period when the patents were still in force.
Move, Inc. (“Move”) operates a number of leading real estate websites, including realtor.com. (owned by the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® (“NAR”)) and the property listing website of the National Association of Home Builders (“NAHB”). In 2007, Move brought a lawsuit against REAL seeking a declaratory judgment that the websites Move operates do not infringe REAL’s patents.
REAL filed a counterclaim against Move, NAR, and NAHB (collectively, “Primary Defendants”). REAL also named as defendants a number of real estate brokers, salespeople, multiple listing services, home builders, and rental property managers (collectively, “Proposed Representatives”) alleging infringement by making real estate property listings available on websites operated by Move and by operating their own independent websites unrelated to the Move operated websites
By agreement of all parties, the litigation was divided into two stages. First, REAL and the Primary Defendants would litigate the validity of the patents and determine if the Primary Defendants infringed. The second stage would proceed against the Proposed Representatives if REAL’s patents survived the first stage of the litigation.
REAL filed a motion to certify a nationwide class of patent infringement defendants. REAL proposed five classes (groups) of defendants: real estate brokers, real estate salespeople, MLSs, new home builders, and rental property owners/managers who submitted listings to Move directly (or through a MLS that submitted listings to Move) containing a property address or other geocoding information between April 3, 2001 and July 16, 2008. The Primary Defendants and Proposed Representatives challenged the class certification and the court denied REAL’s motion to certify a class. A copy of the court’s opinion can be found below.
Move, Inc. v. Real Estate Alliance, Ltd., No. 2:07-cv-02185-GHK-AJW (C.D. Ca. Aug. 17, 2009). [Note: This opinion was not published in an official reporter and therefore should not be cited as authority. Please consult counsel before relying on this opinion. Click here to read the order entered by the court.]