Sept 9 (Askume) – Analytics and artificial intelligence giant Databricks is suing a patent monetisation company and its founder, accusing them of conspiring to use false intellectual property claims to force major technology companies into “nuisance” settlements.
Databricks filed a lawsuit in federal court in Seattle on Friday , accusing Ascend IP and its founders James Weisfeld and Riam Chummun of unfair and deceptive business practices. Databricks builds and sells cloud-based data platforms that provide artificial intelligence and other technology tools.
The suit alleges that Weisfeld and Chummun filed frivolous lawsuits against Databricks and other technology companies and allegedly used shell companies to protect themselves from “bad faith” patent infringement claims.
“Weisfeld and Chummun hid behind a layered network of shell companies to protect themselves, the true owners of the patents, and the true interested parties from any liability,” Databricks said.
Ascend, Weisfeld and Chummun did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday. The lawsuit also names several other entities, including Byteweaver, that it says are part of a scheme to extort money from Databricks and other companies.
Lawyers for Byteweaver declined to comment on the Databricks lawsuit in a pending patent suit filed in federal court in Texas. Databricks denies the claims in the suit and says the patents at issue may be invalid.
San Francisco-based Databricks and its attorneys at Fenwick & West did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Databricks is seeking unspecified triple damages, saying it has spent attorney fees and other resources fighting the “baseless” patent claims.
The case is Databricks v. Weisfield, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, No. 2:24-cv-01417.
For Databricks: Michael Sacksteder and Jessica Kampf of Fenwick & West
For respondents: Not yet provided
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