With Koss Corp.’s patent-infringement lawsuit against Skullcandy Inc. getting dismissed in Texas on an “improper venue” ruling, the Milwaukee-based headphone firm is taking its case to Skullcandy’s home state of Utah.
A U.S. District Court Judge in Texas ruled March 31 in favor of Skullcandy’s motion that the Koss suit be dismissed because Skullcandy does not have offices or employees in the state. Skullcandy is incorporated in Delaware and said in court filings it hasn’t had any employees in Texas since 2016.
The Skullcandy suit is one of five Koss filed in Texas in July 2020 alleging violation of multiple patents and the only case that has been dismissed in Texas. Besides Skullcandy, the defendants are Apple Inc., Bose Corp., PEAG LLC doing business as JLAB Audio and Plantronics Inc.
Despite the dismissal in Texas, Koss clearly isn’t ready to drop the case. After the Texas ruling, the company filed essentially the same lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Utah, noting that Skullcandy’s corporate offices are in Park City, Utah.
Skullcandy sells products in Utah that Koss alleges violate the Milwaukee firm’s patents at stores including Target, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Office Max, Office Depot and Walmart, according to the Koss suit.
Among the Skullcandy products Koss alleges violate Koss patents are Indy Fuel wireless earbuds, Push Ultra wireless earbuds, Sesh True earbuds and Crusher wireless headphones.
Representatives of Skullcandy didn’t immediately respond to Milwaukee Business Journal requests for comment.
Like Skullcandy, two other defendants — Bose and PEAG LLC — filed motions seeking “improper venue” rulings. U.S. District Court Judge Alan Albright has yet to rule on those motions.
Koss argues that it developed systems and prototypes starting in the mid-2000s for wireless headphones and earbuds “looking very much like” those introduced years later by Skullcandy and the other competitors Koss is suing.
“The industry has caught up with Koss’s early 2000s vision,” the company states in court documents.
Koss in 2012 introduced its own line of wireless headphones under the Striva name. Koss said supply-chain issues in the late 2000s and early 2010s prevented Striva-based products from reaching the consumer masses.
Also, Koss said it conducted market research that found larger competitors with more manufacturing capabilities would become “a substantial threat” to bringing Striva fully to market.
The U.S. Patent Office issued Koss several patents for a “system with wireless earphones” in 2019, the Koss court filings state.
Skullcandy manufactured, used, imported, supplied, distributed and sold products that infringed on the Koss patents, Koss said in the court documents.
Koss is seeking unspecified damages for a “reasonable royalty” plus recovering interest and other costs.
Apple sought to strike the Koss lawsuit in Texas, contending it relied on confidential communications between Koss and Apple. Albright recently ruled against Apple’s motion on that issue.
Apple in August 2020 filed a suit against Koss in U.S. District Court in California. Apple is seeking an injunction against Koss for violating a confidentiality agreement.
Plantronics denied the Koss allegations and said one or more of the Koss lawsuit claims are invalid.
