SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwired - Feb 3, 2015) - Life360, the world's largest network for families, with over 50 million registered families, today announced several major developments in its fight against a predatory patent infringement lawsuit filed by Advanced Ground Information Systems Inc. (AGIS) via Kenyon and Kenyon LLP, as well as free legal support for other startups being threatened.
"We have been committed to fighting these baseless claims from the outset and sharing our resources with the tech community. Today, we're taking it a step further and offering to provide free legal support to other small companies being sued by AGIS," said Chris Hulls, co-founder and CEO of Life360. "By providing this support, we can make it economically viable for smaller companies to defend themselves thus breaking the calculus that is core to most patent trolls' existence."
On January 12th, Life360 filed a Complaint in California against AGIS, asserting false marking, among other claims related to their LifeRing product. The Complaint asserts that AGIS marks all of its products and related materials with its patents without regard for whether each and every marked patent includes a claim that covers those products, and does so with the intent to stifle competition with Life360 and others.
The filing of this Complaint in California comes on the heels of a preliminary win for Life360 in Florida. After conducting a Markman Hearing, the United States District Court Southern District of Florida found four of the ten independent claims asserted by AGIS to be indefinite -- effectively invalidating them. Notably, this indefinite claim language appears in the claims of four other AGIS patents.
"This further validates our position, as courts are generally reluctant to invalidate claims at this early stage of litigation, and underscores the ridiculous nature of the claims being asserted against us by Malcolm Beyer, CEO of AGIS, and Mark Hannemann and Thomas Makin, partners at the law firm Kenyon and Kenyon," Hulls explained.
Of particular note, just days after Life360 announced a $50 million Series C in May 2014 and signed a strategic partnership with ADT Security Systems to collaborate on the connected home, Florida-based entity, AGIS filed their patent infringement suit against Life360. Under AGIS' interpretation of their claims, the alleged patents could impact any application that either shows a location marker on a map or connects a group of people using location-sharing capabilities on smartphones.
About Life360
Life360 is the world's largest network for families available for Android, iPhone and Windows Phone. Using proprietary location-based technology, Life360 processes over 1.5 billion location requests per day and enables over 50 million families to privately share location, communicate with ease and stay connected with in-app messaging. The app operates in a convenient and secure way reducing friction and offering peace of mind to make family life easier. Founded in 2008, Life360 has raised $76M in venture financing and is headquartered in San Francisco with 75 employees. For more information, visit www.life360.com.
Contact Information:
Life360
Julie Mullins
650-387-0486