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O'Melveny Scores Win for Niantic in Northern District Patent Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Court Dismisses Patent Infringement Claims Against Maker of Pokémon GO

SAN FRANCISCO—December 22, 2017—O’Melveny secured an important win for Niantic, Inc., maker of the wildly popular Pokémon GO application, when a judge in California’s Northern District dismissed an infringement case brought by Location Based Services LLC (LBS).

LBS’s suit accused Niantic of infringing four patents relating to a “computer system and methods related to a map display.” After successfully transferring the case from the Eastern District of Texas to the Northern District of California, O’Melveny moved to dismiss the complaint under the Supreme Court’s 2014 decision in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, arguing that the asserted patents claimed unpatentable subject matter and were therefore invalid.

Magistrate Judge Nathanael Cousins agreed, finding that all 44 asserted claims in the four asserted patents were directed to an abstract idea and disclosed no inventive concept. The Court dismissed the case with prejudice and entered judgement on December 19, 2017, resulting in a complete victory for Niantic.

The O’Melveny team representing Niantic was led by partners Darin Snyder and Luann Simmons, and included counsel Alexander Parker and associates Jenny Liu and John Zhu.

About O’Melveny

O’Melveny’s clients shape markets, set precedents, and break boundaries. They are stalwarts and innovators, the names you trust, and the next big thing. And for more than a century, O’Melveny has been right beside them, punching through walls and putting up defenses to help our clients achieve their most important goals. With approximately 800 lawyers in 15 offices worldwide guided by the principles of excellence, leadership, and citizenship, we uphold a tradition of treating our clients’ challenges and opportunities as our own. What do you want to achieve? For the answers, please visit www.omm.com.

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