Patent infringement lawsuit against RK Mission Critical LLC
Digital Shovel Holdings Inc. has filed a lawsuit against RK Mission Critical LLC, RK Mechanical LLC and RK Industries LLC, accusing them of patent infringement. The core of the dispute is Digital Shovel's V-Shape technology, an innovation that increases the miner density (number of computing units) in crypto mining containers by 30%. Digital Shovel developed this technology in 2018 and secured the corresponding patents in the following years.
Background of the lawsuit
According to the complaint, Compute North, a customer of RK Mission Critical, sought to license this technology from Digital Shovel in 2019 but was turned down. RK Mission Critical then allegedly produced similar containers, which caused confusion among Digital Shovel employees who believed the containers were its own products. Digital Shovel CEO Scot Johnson claims that RK Mission Critical sold approximately 850 units at over $200,000 each, for total revenue of $170 million.
Digital Shovel’s demands
Digital Shovel further accuses RK Mission Critical of continuing production despite knowing about the pending patents since 2021 and refusing to negotiate a settlement. The lawsuit seeks damages as well as an injunction (a judge's order) to stop further sales of the patent-infringing products.
