Headwater Research's Push Messaging Patent Campaign, From Walmart, Uber, Supercell, and Tencent to Google and Amazon.

This page is the campaign hub for patent suits by Headwater Research LLC, which its complaints describe as a Texas limited liability company with its headquarters in Tyler, Texas. Each suit in the tables below is pending and asserts at least one patent that Headwater also asserts in another suit on this page. Five are in the Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas, one is in the Western District of Texas, and three, against Google LLC, were transferred from the Western District of Texas to the Northern District of California.

The patents

The three patents asserted most widely are U.S. Patent 9,198,117, "Network System With Common Secure Wireless Message Service Serving Multiple Applications on Multiple Wireless Devices," issued November 24, 2015; U.S. Patent 9,615,192, "Message Link Server With Plural Message Delivery Triggers," issued April 4, 2017; and U.S. Patent 10,321,320, "Wireless Network Buffered Message System," issued June 11, 2019. The suit against Amazon.com Services LLC in Marshall asserts U.S. Patent 9,491,564, "Mobile Device and Method With Secure Network Messaging for Authorized Components," issued November 8, 2016; U.S. Patent 11,966,464, "Security Techniques for Device Assisted Services," issued April 23, 2024; and U.S. Patent 8,832,777, "Adapting Network Policies Based on Device Service Processor Configuration," issued September 9, 2014. The USPTO copies of the patents list those titles and issue dates and name Gregory G. Raleigh as an inventor on each. The USPTO copies of the '192, '320, and '464 patents list Headwater Research LLC as the assignee, and each complaint alleges that Headwater is the owner of the patents it asserts.

The third Google case asserts the '464 patent along with U.S. Patents 11,405,429, 11,985,155, 9,973,930, 9,609,510, 8,639,935, and 11,096,055, according to Google's September 3, 2026 motion to stay and a declaration Headwater filed in that case on September 17, 2026. The Northern District of California's September 25, 2026 stay order says that all of the patents at issue in the three Google cases are part of the same family.

Which suit asserts which patents

Patents appear by their last three digits; the full numbers are above. For the Western District of Texas suit against Amazon, the table lists the patents in the original complaint.

The app suits in Marshall

Headwater Research LLC v. Walmart Inc., No. 2:25-cv-00961, Headwater Research LLC v. Uber Technologies, Inc., No. 2:25-cv-00962, Headwater Research LLC v. Supercell Oy, No. 2:25-cv-00964, and Headwater Research LLC v. Tencent Holdings Limited, No. 2:25-cv-00965, were filed on September 18, 2025. Each complaint pleads one count on each of the '117, '192, and '320 patents and attaches a chart for claim 1 of each. Each accuses the defendant's mobile applications and their use of push messaging technology and a push messaging service, such as Firebase Cloud Messaging. The apps named are the Walmart Shopping app or Walmart app; the Uber Freight, Uber, Uber Eats, and Uber Driver apps; Supercell's Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Hay Day, Boom Beach, Brawl Stars, Squad Busters, and mo.co; and Tencent's PUBG Mobile and WeChat apps. The complaints describe Supercell and Tencent, on information and belief, as corporations organized under the laws of Finland and of the People's Republic of China. These mappings are Headwater's allegations.

The Uber case proceeds as a member case under the Walmart case as the lead case. In the Supercell and Tencent cases, which the court's orders describe as proceeding on first amended complaints asserting the same three patents, Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne denied the defendants' motions to stay under the customer suit exception on September 23, 2026. Each defendant had argued that Headwater's contentions rest on Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging and that its case should wait for Headwater's cases against Google. Each order says the court could not find that the defendant is a mere reseller or that Google is the only source of the accused instrumentality, and notes that indemnification in the case flows from the defendant to Google, a point the Tencent order attributes to Headwater. On September 29, 2026, Judge Rodney Gilstrap adopted a report and recommendation and denied Supercell's motion to dismiss. An amended complaint was filed in the Walmart case on September 22, 2026.

The Google cases

Headwater filed the first of its three cases against Google LLC in the Western District of Texas on May 16, 2025, as No. 7:25-cv-00231. That complaint asserts the '192 and '320 patents against Google's Firebase Cloud Messaging system and attaches a chart for claim 1 of each. The case was transferred to the Northern District of California, where it is No. 5:26-cv-01460. According to Google's motion to stay, Google added counterclaims on July 27, 2026 seeking declarations of noninfringement of U.S. Patents 9,232,403 and 9,491,564.

Headwater filed two more cases against Google in the Western District of Texas on August 27, 2025, which are now Nos. 5:26-cv-06192 and 5:26-cv-07551 in the Northern District of California. According to Google's motion, the first asserts the '117 patent against Firebase Cloud Messaging, and the second asserts seven patents, including the '464 patent, against Firebase Cloud Messaging and Google's eSIM-enabled devices. Headwater's declaration says its operative contentions in the second case assert 142 claims across the seven patents and accuse, for each patent, Google's eSIM-enabled devices that operate on Google's network and the Google networks, servers, and services on which they operate.

On September 25, 2026, Judge Noël Wise granted Google's motions and stayed all three cases until March 2, 2027. The order says the cases are at an early stage, that inter partes review or reexamination proceedings are pending on the patents in the first two cases, with the '117 patent on appeal after the USPTO finally rejected claims in a reexamination, that Google has filed inter partes review petitions on four of the seven patents in the third case, and that the technology at issue overlaps in significant part. It says Headwater is not seeking injunctive relief in the three cases. The order directs the parties to inform the court within three days of a decision on institution of any of Google's pending petitions and of decisions in the other proceedings on the patents in suit, administratively terminates the pending motions to dismiss, and sets a consolidated case management conference for March 16, 2027.

The Amazon suits

Headwater Research LLC v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 7:25-cv-00286 (W.D. Tex.), filed June 20, 2025, against Amazon.com, Inc., Amazon.com Services LLC, and Amazon Web Services, Inc., asserts the '192 and '320 patents against the Amazon Device Messaging and Firebase Cloud Messaging systems and attaches a chart for claim 1 of each. Judge Alan D. Albright denied Amazon's renewed motion to stay pending inter partes review on June 11, 2026. Headwater filed a second amended complaint against Amazon.com Services LLC and Amazon Web Services, Inc. on August 21, 2026.

Headwater Research LLC v. Amazon.com Services LLC, No. 2:26-cv-00304 (E.D. Tex.), filed April 16, 2026, pleads three counts, on the '564, '464, and '777 patents, and attaches charts for claim 1 of the '564 patent, claim 11 of the '464 patent, and claim 1 of the '777 patent. It accuses Amazon devices that support Fire OS and/or Amazon Device Messaging, including Fire TV devices such as Fire TV Sticks and Fire TV Cubes, Fire tablets such as the Fire 7, Fire HD 8, Fire HD 10, and Fire Max 11 and their Kids editions, and Echo Show devices. These mappings are Headwater's allegations.

Knowledge allegations

The four Marshall app complaints and both Amazon complaints allege that the defendants have known of, or been willfully blind to, the asserted patents and their alleged infringement at least since the complaint. The first Google complaint goes further. It alleges, on information and belief, that Google has known of the '192 patent since at least July 2023, when Headwater served an amended complaint and claim chart in an earlier Eastern District of Texas case, No. 2:23-cv-00103, which the defendant in that case shared with Google, and that Google also knew of it through contentions served in that case in September 2023 and an expert report served in September 2024. It alleges, on information and belief, that Google has known of the '320 patent since the same filings in that case on the related '117 patent, and, at least by willful blindness, since an April 2025 jury verdict there on the '117 patent.

The counts and relief

Each count alleges direct infringement and induced and contributory infringement under 35 U.S.C. 271(b) and (c). Each complaint asks for a judgment of infringement, damages no less than a reasonable royalty with interest and costs, an accounting and supplemental damages, a judgment of willful infringement with enhanced damages, and an exceptional-case finding with attorney fees under 35 U.S.C. 285. The four Marshall app complaints also ask for a permanent injunction. Each demands a jury trial.

PTAB challenges

Amazon.com Services LLC filed a petition for inter partes review of claims 1 to 33 of the '777 patent on October 22, 2026, IPR2027-00015. Headwater's September 17, 2026 declaration in No. 5:26-cv-07551 lists Google petitions filed August 27, 2026 on four of the patents in that case: IPR2026-00439 on the '055 patent, IPR2026-00440 on the '429 patent, IPR2026-00441 on the '464 patent, and IPR2026-00442 on the '155 patent, each with a notice according a filing date dated September 2, 2026. It also lists a conditional motion for joinder dated September 11, 2026 by Amazon.com Services LLC in IPR2026-00471, on the '464 patent; an Amazon petition filed November 10, 2025 in IPR2026-00106, on the '320 patent; and a Google petition filed March 27, 2026 in IPR2026-00271, on the '564 patent.

Dismissed suits on the same patents

A fifth September 18, 2025 Marshall suit on the '117, '192, and '320 patents, against Target Corporation, No. 2:25-cv-00963, was dismissed by order on September 8, 2026. Headwater's February 2025 Marshall suits against Verizon Communications Inc., Cellco Partnership d/b/a Verizon Wireless, and Verizon Corporate Services Group Inc., No. 2:25-cv-00156, against T-Mobile USA, Inc. and Sprint LLC, No. 2:25-cv-00164, and against AT&T Services, Inc., AT&T Mobility, LLC, and AT&T Corp., No. 2:25-cv-00215, asserted the '464 and '777 patents, among others. They were consolidated under No. 2:25-cv-00156 and dismissed without prejudice by orders signed September 29, 2025. Headwater also asserted the '192 and '320 patents in No. 7:25-cv-00371 (W.D. Tex.), filed August 27, 2025, which the Uber defendants' motion to stay in the Marshall cases says was dismissed on October 31, 2025.

The proceedings

The table lists each suit on this page by number, with the status its docket shows through November 9, 2026.

What to watch next

Watch for the parties' notices to the Northern District of California court on institution decisions in the Google petitions, for the March 16, 2027 case management conference there, for rulings on the pending motions in the Marshall cases, and for the institution decision in IPR2027-00015. Any of these cases can end at any time, including by settlement or voluntary dismissal.