DALLAS – The Dallas-based intellectual property and business litigation law firm Caldwell Cassady & Curry has been retained as lead trial counsel by Texas-based VidStream, LLC, in the company’s long-running patent lawsuit against Twitter, Inc.
Caldwell Cassady & Curry is one of the most successful patent law firms in the world, with more than $2 billion in favorable client verdicts and settlements since the firm’s launch in 2013. In addition, the firm has prevailed in high-stakes cases against notable companies such as Apple Inc., SAS Institute, DePuy Synthes, and others.
“We are honored to represent VidStream,” says Brad Caldwell, a name principal at Caldwell Cassady & Curry. “They deserve justice.”
The lawsuit was updated in 2021 to detail how Twitter became aware of VidStream’s patented technology as far back as 2013 when Twitter engaged in business discussions with YouToo Technologies — the original owners of the patents.
According to VidStream, Twitter was provided access to a digital “sandbox” so that it could evaluate YouToo’s technology. Additionally, VidStream’s complaint implicates many of Twitter’s top executives in the misappropriation of YouToo’s patented technology, including:
- Dick Costolo, Twitter’s former CEO;
- Fred Graver, Twitter’s former Global Head of Twitter TV;
- Adam Bain, Twitter’s former COO;
- Anthony Noto; Twitter’s former CFO and COO, and
- Mike Rusignola, Twitter’s former Product Innovation Lead
VidStream’s retention of Caldwell Cassady & Curry comes after the company scored two critical legal victories against Twitter. The case has been on hold for several years. Twitter unsuccessfully challenged the VidStream patents’ validity through inter partes review petitions filed at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board, which ruled against Twitter and in favor of VidStream for numerous patent claims.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected Twitter’s appeals and affirmed the Board’s findings in 2020. In another blow to Twitter, the district court judge recently denied Twitter’s bid to invalidate the claims as ineligible.
“Twitter has lost two significant defenses, and this case has been pending since 2016,” says Caldwell Cassady & Curry name principal Austin Curry. “The amount Twitter owes purely from unpaid royalties is beyond $600 million at this point.”