Databricks sues patent holders over alleged 'extortion' scheme

Sept 9 (Reuters) - Analytics and artificial intelligence giant Databricks has sued a patent monetization company and its founders for allegedly scheming to use bogus intellectual property claims to force leading technology companies into “nuisance” settlements.

Databricks’ lawsuit, filed on Friday in federal court in Seattle, accused Ascend IP and founders James Weisfield and Riam Chummun of unfair and deceptive business practices. Databricks makes and sells a cloud data platform that provides AI and other technology tools.

The lawsuit said Weisfield and Chummun bring frivolous lawsuits against Databricks and other technology companies and use shell companies to shield themselves from repercussions for allegedly pursuing “bad faith” claims of patent infringement.

“Weisfield and Chummun hide behind their layered network of shell companies to insulate themselves — the true owners of the patents and the real parties in interest — from any liability,” Databricks said.

Ascend, Weisfield and Chummun did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday. The lawsuit also named several other entities, including Byteweavr, that it said were part of a scheme to extort Databricks and others.

An attorney for Byteweavr in a pending patent lawsuit it filed against Databricks in Texas federal court declined to comment on the Databricks lawsuit. Databricks has denied the claims in that lawsuit, saying the patents at issue were likely invalid.

San Francisco-based Databricks and its lawyers at Fenwick & West did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Databricks is seeking unspecified triple damages, saying it had spent legal fees and other resources to fight “meritless” patent claims.

The case is Databricks v. Weisfield, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, No. 2:24-cv-01417.