USTA Technology, LLC v. Google LLC

BACKGROUND

Plaintiff USTA Technology, LLC (“Plaintiff” or “USTA”) is a patent licensing company formed in 2018. See ECF No. 1 ¶ 2. USTA is a non-practicing entity, having generated less than $50,000 in total revenue and none since 2018. ECF No. 78-2, Gordon Decl. ¶ 11. USTA is the assignee of U.S. Patent No. RE47,720 (“the ’720 patent”), a patented method and apparatus for increasing the available spectrum in a wireless network by sharing existing allocated (and in-use) portions of the radio frequency spectrum to minimize the probability of interfering with existing legacy users. See ECF No. 1-1. On November 11, 2022, Plaintiff filed its original complaint, alleging that Defendant Google LLC (“Google”) “has and continues to directly infringe one or more claims of ’720 patent by selling, offering to sell, making, using, and/or providing and causing to be used 802.11ac- compliant products,” such as “Google Nest WiFi Router, Google Nest WiFi Point, and Google Pixel 7 smartphones.” ECF No. 1 ¶¶ 33–34. In April 2023, Defendant filed a motion to transfer the case to the Northern District of California (the “NDCA”) under 28 U.S.C. § 1404(a). ECF No. 34. Defendant argues that the vast…