Heritage IP LLC

Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC has filed suit over another of the former Cypress Semiconductor patents received from Monterey Research, LLC in November 2020. Mallard IP LLC has accused Inspur Systems (2:21-cv-01332) and Super Micro Computer (6:21-cv-01011) of infringing the patent—generally related to a “programmable digital circuit block”—through the incorporation of DDR4 SDRAMs within their NF3120M5 and SuperServer E300-9D servers, respectively. As a formal matter, the new cases do not constitute a new campaign, as Heritage IP LLC, another apparent IP Edge plaintiff, is already litigating another patent in the same family, suing Fossil (1:21-cv-01401) and Nintendo (2:21-cv-01333) just last week.

Heritage IP LLC has filed another round of suits in what has shifted to a litigation campaign over a single former Cypress Semiconductor patent acquired from Monterey Research, LLC, a subsidiary of IPValue Management (d/b/a IPValue). The patent asserted in this latest batch of complaints—filed against Boston Scientific (1:21-cv-00935), Canon (2:21-cv-03705), Gimbal (1:21-cv-00936), Tanita (1:21-cv-03503), and VivaChek Laboratories (1:21-cv-00937)—generally relates to microcontrollers with “power on reset” (PoR) circuits. NXP Semiconductors jumped into this fray last July, after one of its customers had been sued, first filing a complaint seeking declaratory judgments followed by a quick motion for a judgment on the pleadings, challenging this asserted patent under Alice. Heritage IP, an apparent IP Edge LLC plaintiff, opposed the motion by locking horns on every issue.

In late December, IP Edge LLC plaintiff Heritage IP LLC expanded the campaign that it launched in May 2020 with suits against Tile (1:20-cv-01788) in the District of Delaware followed by TDK (2:20-cv-00408) in the Eastern District of Texas. The sole patent-in-suit, originating with Cypress Semiconductor (which was acquired by Infineon Technologies in April 2020), generally relates to microcontrollers with “power on reset” (PoR) circuits. The defendants are accused of infringement through the provision of devices (Bluetooth tracking devices and wristband activity trackers, respectively) that incorporate certain Dialog Semiconductor-branded systems-on-chip (SoCs), with dynamic power management features at issue.

By the end of April, IP Edge LLC had initiated three litigation campaigns over patents from among the five that it acquired, through controlled entity Spindletop IP LLC, from Monterey Research, LLC, a subsidiary of IPValue Management (d/b/a IPValue). The original development work for the patents was conducted at Cypress Semiconductor (acquired by Infineon Technologies this April); with those assets, IP Edge plaintiffs Celebration IP LLC (targeting chipsets that control the discharge of lithium ion batteries); Forutome IP LLC (devices that feature a programmable tri-state buffer); and Pearl IP Licensing LLC (devices that feature processors with Resource Power Management (RPM) circuits) have each begun litigation. Last week, as Celebration IP and Forutome IP expanded each of their campaigns, IP Edge launched a new one from the former Cypress patents, through Heritage IP LLC.