The complaint
The East Texas case is Valtrus Innovations Ltd v. Continental Broadband, LLC, No. 2:26-cv-00793-JRG (E.D. Tex.). It began in the Western District of Pennsylvania as No. 2:26-cv-01736, where the complaint of Valtrus Innovations Ltd. and Key Patent Innovations Ltd. v. Continental Broadband, LLC d/b/a Expedient was filed August 18, 2026 with a jury demand. A conditional transfer order of the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in MDL No. 3190 was entered on the Pennsylvania docket on September 4, 2026, and the East Texas docket shows the case transferred in on September 8, 2026 (ECF No. 14). Both plaintiffs are Irish companies; the complaint alleges that Key Patent Innovations is the beneficiary of a trust under which Valtrus owns and asserts the patents. It alleges, on information and belief, that Expedient is a Virginia limited liability company headquartered in Pittsburgh.
What the patents cover
U.S. Patent 6,854,287 is titled Cooling system and issued February 15, 2005. Claim 1 covers a method of cooling a room housing computer systems by providing heat exchanger units that receive air from and deliver air to the room, supplying them with cooling fluid from an air conditioning unit, sensing temperatures in the room, and controlling the cooling-fluid temperature or the units' air delivery in response, where controlling air delivery includes individually manipulating the mass flow rate of cooling fluid supplied to each unit.
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.
U.S. Patent 6,718,277 is titled Atmospheric control within a building and issued April 6, 2004. Claim 1, in the form set out in a certificate of correction, covers a method of controlling atmospheric conditions within a building by supplying a conditioned fluid inside it, sensing at least one atmospheric parameter at multiple locations, using software to generate an empirical atmospheric map from the sensing results, comparing that map to a template atmospheric map, and identifying pattern differentials between the two.
What the lawsuit is about
Valtrus alleges that Expedient, which it says operates 13 data centers in 9 markets, infringed claim 1 of each patent by performing cooling methods in its data centers before the patents expired, using cooling equipment and control software from third-party suppliers, and it attaches exemplary claim charts as Exhibits 4 through 11. A footnote states that Valtrus is not asserting the '287 patent based on one supplier's equipment because of a representation it made to the Eastern District of Texas in connection with consolidating pending cases. The complaint alleges that Valtrus's counsel wrote to Expedient on January 9, 2025 offering a license and enclosing claim charts on seven patents, including these three, and that the parties discussed a license but did not reach one. The prayer asks for damages for past infringement with interest, attorneys' fees, and other relief.
What to watch next
Expedient answered the complaint and filed counterclaims on October 8, 2026 (ECF No. 26). The docket shows an entry titled Response to Non-Motion on October 26, 2026 (ECF No. 27). Watch for MDL scheduling orders.