MARSHALL, Texas — Patent holding company Virtual Immersion Technologies LLC has filed lawsuits against three companies that operate live virtual reality cam sites.
The trio of identical lawsuits, all filed at U.S. District Court in Marshall, Texas, claim defendants are infringing on U.S. Patent No. 6,409,599, which is entitled, “Interactive Virtual Reality Performance Theater Entertainment System.”
The suits, all filed last month, target Miami Lakes, Fla.-based Secure Live Media, which operates CamSoda.com; London-based TxtMe TV Ltd., which runs Xpanded TV; and Alhaurin de la Torre, Spain-based Aplicaciones Para Realidad Virtual, which runs VirtualPorn360.com.
At first glance, the Virtual Immersion Technologies patent is perceived as quite broad and its filing is reminiscent of half a dozen suits filed in 2015 over the intellectual property used in the making of haptic toys. TZU Technologies LLC filed six patents suits against RealTouch, Comingle, Holland Haptics, Vibease, Frixion and Winzz over its teledildonic patent.
Virtual Immersion Technologies’ intellectual property, U.S. Patent No. 6,409,599, relates to an immersive virtual reality environment, in which a live performer interacts with one or more participants and includes live or prerecorded video and tools to enable the performer and the participant to each partially control the experience.
The patent’s inventors were Randy and Susan Sprout, with Ham On Rye Technologies Inc. as its original assignee. Virtual Immersion Technologies now holds the patent, which was originally published in 2002.
Virtual Immersion Technologies, in its prayer for relief, seeks a judgment for infringement, damages and attorneys fees.
Officials at Secure Live Media, or CamSoda, did not immediately respond for XBIZ comment. TxtMe TV Ltd. and Alhaurin de la Torre were not reachable.
