Background
DivX, LLC — a California-based video technology patent licensor backed by Fortress Investment Group — sued Amazon in November 2024, accusing Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service, Fire TV devices, Fire tablets, Echo Show displays, and encoding servers of infringing six patents relating to adaptive bitrate streaming, video encoding, content protection, and trick-play functionality.
This was DivX’s second attempt to assert patents against Amazon. In an earlier round, DivX filed parallel complaints at the International Trade Commission and in the Eastern District of Virginia in 2022. The ITC ruled in Amazon’s favor in May 2024, and DivX dismissed the Virginia case. On the same day, DivX filed this new action with a different set of patents.
By the time of summary judgment briefing, DivX had narrowed its case to five of the original six asserted patents, covering technologies including adaptive bitrate streaming (US 9,955,195 and US 11,611,785), video seeking during playback (US 10,412,141), tile-based video encryption (US 10,542,303 and US 11,245,938), and video transcoding (US 10,715,806).
The Court’s Holding
Judge Nachmanoff mostly granted Amazon’s motion for summary judgment of non-infringement, ruling that Amazon’s video streaming services, devices, and encoding systems do not infringe four of the five remaining asserted patents.
The sole surviving patent is US Patent No. 10,542,303, titled “Systems and Methods for Protecting Compressed Video Streams Containing Independently Encoded Tiles.” This patent covers encryption of video compressed using independently encoded “tiles” — a technique used in modern codecs like HEVC/H.265 that enables parallel processing of video frames. Judge Nachmanoff rejected Amazon’s non-infringement arguments on this patent, and the case will proceed to a jury trial on this claim.
The four dismissed patents were cleared on non-infringement grounds, significantly narrowing DivX’s case from a multi-patent portfolio assertion to a single-patent trial.
Key Takeaways
- Eastern District of Virginia lives up to its “rocket docket” reputation. The case moved from filing to summary judgment in approximately 18 months, consistent with the EDVA’s fast-tracking of patent cases.
- Tile-based video encryption remains the key battleground. The surviving ‘303 patent covers encryption for independently encoded video tiles — a technique embedded in the HEVC standard used by virtually all modern high-resolution streaming services.
- Fortress/DivX’s licensing campaign faces headwinds. After losing at the ITC in 2024 and now having four of five patents dismissed, DivX’s leverage for extracting licensing fees from major streaming providers has been significantly weakened.
- Trial on the ‘303 patent could have industry-wide implications. A jury verdict on tile-based video encryption could affect how streaming providers implement content protection — a question relevant to any service using HEVC-based streaming.
Why It Matters
This ruling illustrates the challenges facing patent assertion entities in the streaming technology space. DivX — now a Fortress Investment Group licensing vehicle — has been engaged in multi-front litigation against Amazon, Netflix, and other major streaming providers. The continued erosion of its patent claims against Amazon, following the 2024 ITC loss, may pressure DivX to seek settlement on the remaining ‘303 claim rather than risk a complete defense verdict at trial.
For the broader streaming industry, the outcome of the trial on the ‘303 patent will be closely watched. Tile-based video encoding is a foundational technique in modern streaming infrastructure, and a finding of infringement could create licensing obligations across the industry.