Intellectual Ventures II's Second UPS Suit Targets the ORION System on Three Cluster Computing Patents.

The suit that stayed in Texas

On October 23, 2026, the Western District of Texas granted UPS's motion to transfer Intellectual Ventures I LLC v. United Parcel Service, Inc., the five-patent suit Intellectual Ventures I LLC and Intellectual Ventures II LLC filed in January 2026, to the Northern District of Georgia. That transfer order also addressed this case, Intellectual Ventures II LLC v. United Parcel Service, Inc., No. 1:26-cv-01150 (W.D. Tex.), which it called a second, co-pending suit against UPS in Austin. The order noted that UPS contends this suit should also be transferred to the Northern District of Georgia, but said it involves different patents and different accused products and, aside from sharing some parties, is unrelated to the transferred case. This case remains on the Western District of Texas docket.

The parties and the patents

Intellectual Ventures II LLC filed the complaint on May 1, 2026, in the Austin Division. The complaint says Intellectual Ventures II is a Delaware limited liability company based in Bellevue, Washington, and that UPS is a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Atlanta, Georgia. For venue under 28 U.S.C. 1400(b), it points to a UPS distribution center in Round Rock, Texas, and says UPS has approximately 470 UPS Store locations in Texas, about 96 of them in the district. It alleges, upon information and belief, that UPS personnel use one or more of the accused products at each such location.

The complaint asserts three patents, each of which it says Intellectual Ventures II owns: U.S. Patent 8,332,844, Root image caching and indexing for block-level distributed application management, issued December 11, 2012; U.S. Patent 8,352,584, System for hosting customized computing clusters, issued January 8, 2013; and U.S. Patent 7,822,841, Method and system for hosting multiple, customized computing clusters, issued October 26, 2010. It says the '844 patent is directed to block-level distribution of an application environment to compute nodes, including caching and indexing of root images, and that the '584 and '841 patents are directed to hosting computing clusters for clients, each cluster having a different configuration, with a gateway mechanism in the '584 patent and a monitoring system in the '841 patent.

The accused system and the counts

Each of the three counts names UPS's ORION (On-Road Integrated Optimization and Navigation), along with any other UPS product or service that operates in substantially the same manner. The complaint alleges that ORION runs on Kubernetes, a container orchestration system, and maps the claims to Kubernetes features such as container image layers, image caching, cluster gateways and cluster monitoring.

Count I alleges direct infringement of at least claim 7 of the '844 patent, which covers a method of providing data to compute nodes by storing blocks of a root image on a first storage unit, storing leaf images for each node that hold only new data blocks and that node's changes to the root image, and caching root image blocks that the nodes have accessed. Count II alleges direct infringement of at least claim 1 of the '584 patent, and Count III alleges direct infringement of at least claim 1 of the '841 patent. Each count alleges direct infringement literally and/or under the doctrine of equivalents, and each also alleges induced and contributory infringement, citing UPS web pages about its logistics services and about navigation technology for its service personnel. For each patent, it alleges that UPS knew of the patent or should have known of it but was willfully blind to its existence, and that UPS has known of it at least since receiving the complaint.

The complaint asks for a judgment of infringement; a permanent injunction or, if none issues, a mandatory future royalty; an accounting of damages; a finding of willful or egregious infringement with enhanced damages under 35 U.S.C. 284; damages, costs and interest; a finding that the case is exceptional under 35 U.S.C. 285, with attorney fees; and a jury trial.

What the docket shows

The docket shows that the case was assigned to Judge Robert Pitman when it was filed, and that an order reassigning the case was entered on July 23, 2026 (ECF No. 18). A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim was filed on July 17, 2026 (ECF No. 16). Intellectual Ventures II filed an amended complaint on July 31, 2026 (ECF No. 19), and the docket shows an order on the earlier motion to dismiss on August 4, 2026. A new motion to dismiss was filed on August 14, 2026 (ECF No. 22), followed by a response in opposition on September 8, 2026 (ECF No. 24) and a reply on September 22, 2026 (ECF No. 26).

What to watch next

Watch for a ruling on the pending motion to dismiss the amended complaint and for any motion to transfer this case to the Northern District of Georgia, where the companion suit now sits as No. 1:26-cv-06475. The case can end at any time, including by settlement or voluntary dismissal.