Rockstar Consortium Inc.

International License Exchange of America, LLC (ILEA), an affiliate of Equitable IP Corporation, has added Nokia and subsidiary Alcatel-Lucent to its networking campaign, accusing the two companies of infringing five former Nortel patents (6,222,848; 6,578,086; 6,697,325; 7,158,515; RE40,999). At issue in the complaint are various types of enterprise-grade networking hardware offered by Alcatel-Lucent, including access multiplexers for DSL and fiber optic networks, routers, and switches (1:16-cv-01077). Nokia has already been dismissed without prejudice, on December 1, just over a week after the case was filed.

International License Exchange of America, LLC (ILEA), an entity apparently managed by Equitable IP Corporation subsidiary Equitable IP Holdings, LLC, has added DragonWave (1:16-cv-00797), Fortinet (1:16-cv-00795), and GTT Communications (1:16-cv-00796) to its new networking campaign. ILEA’s latest complaints assert the same former Nortel patent (RE40,999) as in all but one of its initial filings, which hit a host of cable and satellite companies (Cablevision, Echostar (Echostar Corp., Hughes), Frontier Communications, ViaSat) and telecommunications providers (SOFTBANK (Clearwire, Sprint) in mid-August. Cincinnati Bell, also targeted in that first round of lawsuits, is alleged to infringe two additional Nortel patents (6,970,461; 7,478,167) from different families, along with the ‘999 patent. As in those earlier suits, DragonWave, Fortinet, and GTT have been accused of infringement through the provision of various types of hardware and services related to enterprise networking and broadband.

In the first two weeks of January 2016, RPX saw eight patent transfers to NPEs recorded with the USPTO.

During the second half of February 2015 RPX saw 13 transfers of patents recorded with the USPTO.

Cable One, Cequel, Charter, Knology, and Wow! filed suit against Rockstar Consortium and related entities Bockstar, Constellation, and Spherix over alleged violation of FRAND obligations. The plaintiffs allege that Rockstar is misusing the patent portfolio it acquired from Nortel Networks and is violating FRAND (fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory) licensing obligations related to Nortel’s prior participation in standards setting. According to the complaint, shortly after Rockstar acquired the Nortel portfolio, it began a campaign targeting plaintiffs and others for patent infringement. Rockstar’s assertion letters to plaintiffs identified exemplars of the types of communications and networking patents it believed the companies were infringing (including 5,471,474, 5,761,197), but declined to identify a finite number or provide a comprehensive list of allegedly infringed patents. Plaintiffs maintain Rockstar broadly accused companies of infringing its portfolio as a whole and demanded licensing discussions under threat of serial patent litigation. Rockstar required those willing to engage in licensing discussions to sign nondisclosure agreements before receiving information about the patents or license terms; plaintiffs insist this practice was a direct effort by Rockstar to conduct an improper licensing campaign in violation of FRAND obligations. 01/14, Delaware District Court, 1:14cv00055

In response to Rockstar‘s recent litigation campaign against mobile device companies, Google filed a motion for declaratory judgment (DJ) of noninfringement against the plaintiff entity, Rockstar Consortium US. According to Google’s complaint, Rockstar’s suits have targeted users of the Android operating system and claims that it is an “open secret” that Rockstar’s campaign is directly intended to “harm” Google’s Android platform. Rockstar sued handset makers Asus, HTC, Huawei, LG, Pantech and ZTE at the end of October.   2:13cv00896

Last week Cisco became the first target of Bockstar Technologies, a subsidiary of Rockstar Consortium. The case asserts five patents related to data networking, all of which were part of the Nortel portfolio assigned to Rockstar Bidco in 2011 (5,732,080; 6,069,895; 6,233,245; 6,636,508; 6,684,241; 6,778,653). The Bockstar complaint accuses Cisco switches of infringement. A corporate disclosure statement notes that Apple, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Microsoft indirectly own more than 10% of Bockstar. This filing makes the third campaign Rockstar has filed this year asserting the Nortel patents. Other litigation campaigns were filed by Rockstar Consortium itself and subsidiary Constellation Technologies. 12/11, District of Delaware, 1:13cv02020

Constellation Technologies, a subsidiary of Rockstar Consortium, filed its first two suits this week asserting a total of nine patents (6,128,649; 6,373,923; 6,650,618; 6,845,389; 6,901,048; 7,154,879; 7,564,895; 8,134,917; 8,464,299). Broadband service providers Time Warner Cable and Windstream Communications are the defendants named in the cases. The patents-in-suit relate to various aspects of networking and are among the part of the Nortel portfolio that Rockstar Bidco acquired in 2011. Two patents, ‘879 and ‘917, are asserted against both defendants. According to disclosure statements Apple, BlackBerry, Ericsson, and Microsoft have a financial interest in the Constellation cases. 12/11, Eastern District of Texas, 2:13cv01079, 2:13cv01080

Rockstar Consortium filed eight lawsuits last week as part of two litigation campaigns. One campaign involved seven defendants, ASUS, HTC, Huawei, LG, Pantech, Samsung, and ZTE and asserts seven patents. The patents-in-suit relate to various aspects of mobile communications, including messaging, navigating the graphical interface, and networking (5838551; 6037937; 6128298; 6333973; 6463131; 6765591; 6937572). Each case asserts at least six patents and several of them assert all seven. In each case, defendants’ mobile devices are accused of infringing the litigated patents. On the same day, Rockstar also sued Google, asserting seven patents all related to providing advertising to users based on a search request (6098065; 7236969; 7469245; 7672970; 7895178; 7933883). That suit accuses Google’s search service of infringement. These are the first suits filed by Rockstar, a consortium of companies that joined to acquire and monetize patents sold by Nortel Networks.  10/31, Eastern District of Texas, 2:13cv00893, 2:13cv00894, 2:13cv00895, 2:13cv00896, 2:13cv00898, 2:13cv00899, 2:13cv00900, 2:13cv00901

February 21, 2013 – Last week, the USPTO recorded the latest assignments by Rockstar Bidco of five issued US patents and two pending US applications to Texas-based Rockstar Consortium US LP. Rockstar Bidco, the consortium of six companies that successfully bid $4.5 billion in 2011 to acquire the patent portfolio of bankrupt Canadian telecom company Nortel Networks, received a total of 3,852 issued and pending US patents as part of the transaction. Of those, a total of 1,410 were subsequently assigned to consortium participants Apple, Microsoft, and RIM, the largest portion of which went to Apple. To date, Apple reportedly invested $2.6 billion to the transaction and has received 815 issued US patents and 315 pending US applications. RIM, which reportedly contributed $770 million to the transaction, has received 172 issued US patents and 72 pending US applications to date, and Microsoft has received 24 issued US patents and 17 pending US applications, but has not disclosed their financial contribution to the consortium. Other Rockstar Bidco participants EMC, Ericsson, and Sony presumably received licenses to the portfolio, which Ericsson has reportedly contributed $340 million. The seven total issued and pending US patents of last week represent the most recent recordations of a series of assignments to Rockstar Consortium by Rockstar Bidco. Although Rockstar, the licensing entity formed to monetize the Nortel patents and employing a number of its former licensing employees, has yet to initiate any litigation to date, it is likely that the Texas-based LP’s holdings could be the subject of future enforcement efforts, should they take place. Rockstar has also made several (thus far unsuccessful) attempts to sell segments of the portfolio to prospective buyers.