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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS

WACO DIVISION

WSOU INVESTMENTS, LLC d/b/a 

BRAZOS LICENSING AND 

DEVELOPMENT,

Plaintiff,

v.

DELL TECHNOLOGIES INC., DELL 

INC., AND EMC CORPORATION,

Defendants.

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CIVIL ACTION NO. 6:20-cv-406

JURY TRIAL DEMANDED

ORIGINAL COMPLAINT FOR PATENT INFRINGEMENT

Plaintiff WSOU Investments, LLC d/b/a Brazos Licensing and Development (“Brazos” or 

“Plaintiff”), by and through its attorneys, files this Complaint for Patent Infringement against Dell 

Technologies Inc., Dell Inc., and EMC Corporation (collectively, “Defendants”) and alleges:

NATURE OF THE ACTION

1. This is a civil action for patent infringement arising under the Patent Laws of the 

United States, 35 U.S.C. §§ 1, et seq., including §§ 271, 281, 284, and 285.

THE PARTIES

2. Brazos is a limited liability corporation organized and existing under the laws of 

Delaware, with its principal place of business at 605 Austin Avenue, Suite 6, Waco, Texas 76701.

3. On information and belief, defendant Dell Technologies Inc. is a Delaware 

corporation with a principal place of business at One Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas 78682.

4. On information and belief, defendant Dell Inc. is a Delaware corporation with a 

principal place of business at One Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas 78682. Dell Inc. is wholly owned 

by its corporate parent, Dell Technologies Inc. 

Case 6:20-cv-00406-ADA Document 1 Filed 05/19/20 Page 1 of 9
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5. On information and belief, defendant EMC Corporation is a Massachusetts 

corporation with a principal place of business at One Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas 78682. EMC 

Corporation is wholly owned by its corporate parent, Dell Technologies Inc.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

6. This is an action for patent infringement which arises under the Patent Laws of the 

United States, in particular, 35 U.S.C. §§ 271, 281, 284, and 285.

7. This Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter of this action under 28 U.S.C.

§§ 1331 and 1338(a).

8. This Court has specific and general personal jurisdiction over each defendant

pursuant to due process and/or the Texas Long Arm Statute, because each defendant has committed 

acts giving rise to this action within Texas and within this judicial district. The Court’s exercise of 

jurisdiction over each defendant would not offend traditional notions of fair play and substantial 

justice because each defendant has established minimum contacts with the forum. For example, 

on information and belief, each defendant has committed acts of infringement in this judicial 

district, by among other things, selling and offering for sale products that infringe the asserted 

patent, directly or through intermediaries, as alleged herein.

9. Venue in the Western District of Texas is proper pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§1391

and/or 1400(b). Each defendant has established places of business in the Western District of Texas. 

Each defendant is registered to do business in Texas. Upon information and belief, each defendant 

has transacted business in this District and has committed acts of infringement in this District. 

COUNT ONE - INFRINGEMENT OF 

U.S. PATENT NO. 7,453,888

10. Brazos re-alleges and incorporates by reference the preceding paragraphs of this 

Complaint.

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11. On November 18, 2008, the United States Patent and Trademark Office duly and 

legally issued U.S. Patent No. 7,453,888 (“the ‘888 Patent”), entitled “Stackable Virtual Local 

Area Network Provisioning in Bridged Networks.” A true and correct copy of the ‘888 Patent is 

attached as Exhibit A to this Complaint.

12. Brazos is the owner of all rights, title, and interest in and to the ‘888 Patent, 

including the right to assert all causes of action arising under the ‘888 Patent and the right to any 

remedies for the infringement of the ‘888 Patent.

13. Defendants make, use, sell, offer for sale, import, and/or distribute in the United 

States, including within this judicial district, products such as, but not limited to, networking 

switches, including but not limited to, Force 10 MXL switches (collectively, the “Accused 

Products”).

14. The Accused Products may be deployed in environments with Virtual Local Area 

Network (VLAN) applications and virtualization hosts and can provide VLAN double tagging, 

frame extensions for VLAN tagging, and native VLAN features, among other features. Force 10 

MXL switches, for example, may enhance bandwidth and performance, as well as provide 

Case 6:20-cv-00406-ADA Document 1 Filed 05/19/20 Page 3 of 9
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flexibility to satisfy changing demands of data centers embracing virtualization, network 

convergence, and other I/O-intensive applications or workloads. 

https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Shared-Content_dataSheets_Documents/en/SS804_Dell_Force10_MXL.pdf

15. The Accused Products may configure a trunk port so that a numbered tag is inserted 

in each ethernet frame to keep the traffic of different VLANs from mixing. Accused Products

running Per-VLAN Spanning Tree (PVST) configure their trunk ports appropriately.

http://bladesmadesimple.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/05/Deploying_the_Dell_Force10_MXL_on_a_Cisco_Nexus_Network_v1

_1.pdf

Case 6:20-cv-00406-ADA Document 1 Filed 05/19/20 Page 4 of 9
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http://bladesmadesimple.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/05/Deploying_the_Dell_Force10_MXL_on_a_Cisco_Nexus_Network_v1

_1.pdf

Case 6:20-cv-00406-ADA Document 1 Filed 05/19/20 Page 5 of 9
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16. Trunk ports in the accused products can participate in multiple VLANs over an 

ethernet interface carrying multiple tagged VLANs and/or a single untagged VLAN.

http://bladesmadesimple.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/05/Deploying_the_Dell_Force10_MXL_on_a_Cisco_Nexus_Network_v1

_1.pdf

17. The Accused Products may configure all the trunk ports participating in VLANs

when the port is in a standby state. The configured trunk port may be enabled to begin forwarding 

traffic as soon as its link is active. 

http://bladesmadesimple.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/05/Deploying_the_Dell_Force10_MXL_on_a_Cisco_Nexus_Network_v1

_1.pdf

18. In view of preceding paragraphs, each and every element of at least claim 1 of the 

‘888 Patent is found in the Accused Products.

19. Defendants continue to directly infringe at least one claim of the ‘888 Patent, 

literally or under the doctrine of equivalents, by making, using, selling, offering for sale, importing, 

Case 6:20-cv-00406-ADA Document 1 Filed 05/19/20 Page 6 of 9
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and/or distributing the Accused Products in the United States, including within this judicial district, 

without the authority of Brazos.

20. Defendants have received notice and actual or constructive knowledge of the ‘888

Patent since at least the date of service of this Complaint.

21. Since at least the date of service of this Complaint, through its actions, Defendants

have actively induced product makers, distributors, retailers, and/or end users of the Accused 

Products to infringe the ‘888 Patent throughout the United States, including within this judicial 

district, by, among other things, advertising and promoting the use of the Accused Products in 

various websites, including providing and disseminating product descriptions, operating manuals, 

and other instructions on how to implement and configure the Accused Products. Examples of 

such advertising, promoting, and/or instructing include the documents at:

• http://bladesmadesimple.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/05/Deploying_the_Dell_Force10_MXL_on_a_Cisco_Nexus_Net

work_v1_1.pdf

• https://i.dell.com/sites/csdocuments/Shared-Content_dataSheets_Documents/en/SS804_Dell_Force10_MXL.pdf

22. Since at least the date of service of this Complaint, through its actions, Defendants

have contributed to the infringement of the ‘888 Patent by having others sell, offer for sale, or use 

the Accused Products throughout the United States, including within this judicial district, with

knowledge that the Accused Products infringe the ‘888 Patent. The Accused Products are 

especially made or adapted for infringing the ‘888 Patent and have no substantial non-infringing 

use. For example, in view of the preceding paragraphs, the Accused Products contain functionality 

which is material to at least one claim of the ‘888 Patent.

JURY DEMAND

Brazos hereby demands a jury on all issues so triable.

Case 6:20-cv-00406-ADA Document 1 Filed 05/19/20 Page 7 of 9
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REQUEST FOR RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Brazos respectfully requests that the Court:

(A) Enter judgment that Defendants infringe one or more claims of the ‘888 Patent

literally and/or under the doctrine of equivalents;

(B) Enter judgment that Defendants have induced infringement and continue to induce 

infringement of one or more claims of the ‘888 Patent;

(C) Enter judgment that Defendants have contributed to and continue to contribute to 

the infringement of one or more claims of the ‘888 Patent;

(D) Award Brazos damages, to be paid by Defendants in an amount adequate to 

compensate Brazos for such damages, together with pre-judgment and post-judgment interest for 

the infringement by Defendants of the ‘888 Patent through the date such judgment is entered in 

accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 284, and increase such award by up to three times the amount found 

or assessed in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 284;

(E) Declare this case exceptional pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 285; and

(F) Award Brazos its costs, disbursements, attorneys’ fees, and such further and 

additional relief as is deemed appropriate by this Court.

Dated: May 19, 2020 Respectfully submitted,

/s/ James L. Etheridge

James L. Etheridge

Texas State Bar No. 24059147 

Ryan S. Loveless

Texas State Bar No. 24036997 

Travis L. Richins

Texas State Bar No. 24061296

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ETHERIDGE LAW GROUP, PLLC

2600 E. Southlake Blvd., Suite 120 / 324

Southlake, Texas 76092

Telephone: (817) 470-7249

Facsimile: (817) 887-5950

Jim@EtheridgeLaw.com

Ryan@EtheridgeLaw.com

Travis@EtheridgeLaw.com

COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFF

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