Valtrus and Key Patent Innovations Sue Ark Data Centers on a Data-Center Cooling Control Patent, Now in the East Texas MDL.

The complaint

The East Texas case is Key Patent Innovations Ltd. v. Ark Data Centers, LLC, No. 2:26-cv-00862 (E.D. Tex.). It began in the Western District of Pennsylvania as No. 2:26-cv-01734, where the six-page complaint of Valtrus Innovations Ltd. and Key Patent Innovations Ltd. v. Ark Data Centers, LLC was filed August 18, 2026 with a jury demand. Both plaintiffs are Irish companies. The complaint alleges that Valtrus is the successor in interest to a patent portfolio created by a technology company and its affiliates, that Valtrus owns the asserted patent by assignment, and that Key Patent Innovations is the beneficiary of a trust under which Valtrus owns, holds, and asserts it. It alleges, on information and belief, that Ark is an Iowa limited liability company, and it says Ark operates ten data centers across seven markets, including a facility in Pittsburgh.

Transfer into MDL No. 3190

A conditional transfer order of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, designated CTO-2, was filed in the case on August 27, 2026 in MDL No. 3190, In re Valtrus Innovations Ltd. Patent Litigation. Ark filed a notice of opposition and later withdrew it, and the Panel's order lifting the stay of CTO-2, filed September 18, 2026 and docketed in East Texas as ECF No. 13, transferred the case to the Eastern District of Texas for coordinated or consolidated pretrial proceedings before Judge Rodney Gilstrap. The East Texas docket shows the case transferred in on September 21, 2026 (ECF Nos. 13 to 15) and lists Judge Gilstrap as the assigned judge and Magistrate Judge Roy S. Payne as the referral judge. In Pennsylvania the case had been assigned to Judge David S. Cercone and then reassigned to Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan.

What the patent covers

U.S. Patent 6,868,682 is titled Agent based control method and system for energy management and issued March 22, 2005. Claim 1 covers a method of controlling data-center temperature by receiving temperature sensory data from a subsystem, processing it with a first agent in a hierarchy of agents to determine whether the subsystem is within a predetermined temperature range, adjusting a cooling-fluid delivery rate with the first agent to keep it in range, and requesting a second agent in the hierarchy to process the data when the first agent cannot keep the temperature in range unless the second agent redistributes the cooling fluid to one or more areas of the data center.

What the lawsuit is about

The complaint alleges that Ark infringed the '682 patent by performing methods of cooling its data centers before the patent expired, using cooling equipment and control software from at least one third-party supplier, and alleges, on information and belief, that Ark may have used equipment from other suppliers in a similar way. It attaches exemplary claim charts for claim 1 as Exhibits 2 through 5. A footnote states that Valtrus is not asserting U.S. Patent 6,854,287 based on Ark's use of one supplier's equipment because of a representation it made to the Eastern District of Texas in connection with consolidating pending cases, and that it intends to assert the '287 patent to the extent Ark uses other suppliers' equipment. The complaint alleges that Valtrus's counsel wrote to Ark on January 9, 2025 offering a license and enclosing claim charts on seven patents, including the '682 patent, and that the parties discussed a license but did not reach one. The prayer asks for a finding of infringement, damages for past infringement with interest and costs under 35 U.S.C. § 284, prejudgment and post-judgment interest, an exceptional-case finding with attorneys' fees under 35 U.S.C. § 285, and other relief.

Docket activity

The plaintiffs' return of service shows Ark served on September 4, 2026 (ECF No. 12). After the transfer, a clerk's entry on September 24, 2026 addressed Ark's unopposed application for more time to answer (ECF No. 16), and an answer and counterclaim was docketed on October 21, 2026 (ECF No. 29).

What to watch next

Watch for the plaintiffs' response to Ark's counterclaim and for MDL scheduling orders.