According to a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine, Digital Shovel Holdings Inc. has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado against RK Mission Critical LLC, RK Mechanical LLC and RK Industries LLC for patent infringement. The dispute revolves around Digital Shovel’s V-Shape technology, which is designed to increase miner density within cryptocurrency mining containers.
Digital Shovel developed the V-Shape technology in 2018 and received patents in 2022, 2023, and 2024. These patents increase miner density by 30%, providing significant operational advantages. According to the complaint, RK Mission Critical’s client, Compute North, sought a license for the technology from Digital Shovel in 2019 but was denied. Despite this, RK Mission Critical manufactured containers very similar to Digital Shovel’s, and some staff initially mistook it for their own product.
“Instead of competing fairly, Defendants are misusing the innovative technology that Digital Shovel has worked hard to develop and protect through its patents,” the complaint states.
Digital Shovel CEO Scot Johnson said that based on its marketing of the RK Mission Critical, he believes the company has sold about 850 units at prices in excess of $200,000 apiece, resulting in $170 million worth of product.
“A variety of publicly traded mining companies use RK’s products,” Johnson said, “but at this time our focus is not on them or other end users, but on enforcing our intellectual property rights against companies that are using our technology to make products that are taking customers away from us.”
Digital Shovel alleges that it is seeking legal relief because RK Mission Critical continued production without authorization and failed to negotiate a settlement despite being aware of its pending patent application since 2021. The company seeks damages and to obtain a court order to block further sales of infringing containers.
Bitcoin Magazine plans to interview Johnson. X’s Space It starts today at 1:15pm ET, and we invite you to join us to learn more about this lawsuit.
