On April 25, 2016, the Federal Circuit refused to restore two data transfer patents that U.S. Ethernet Innovations LLC alleged Finnegan client Sony had infringed.
In 2009, U.S. Ethernet sued Sony and 15 other computer makers, claiming four of its patents had been used in computer Internet connections without permission. In 2014, a California district court judge ruled all four patents were invalid. The judged ruled two of the patents invalid because they were anticipated by an invention that contained the "buffer memory" innovation claimed in U.S. Ethernet’s patent. U.S. Ethernet appealed, but the Federal Circuit upheld the lower court’s decision.