Sun Patent Trust

Patent transfers recently made public by the USPTO include multiple assignments between NPEs, several of which have litigated previously received assets, but others of which are new and have yet to file suit. They also include a grant to the US Treasury Department of four assets, one of which was “litigated” through this past July, when Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright, on the court’s own motion, brought the campaign to an end.

With a patent portfolio reportedly comprising over 3,000 patent assets providing “protection in North America, Europe and Asia”, Sun Patent Trust (SPT) has filed its first US patent case to date, suing HTC (2:20-cv-00286) over four wireless communications patents received from Panasonic. Formed in 2015, SPT is among a steadily growing list of patent holders choosing to launch their first patent suits amid the recession brought on by COVID-19.

RPX took notice, among the USPTO assignment records made available during the first half of August, of transactions involving recently asserted patents (e.g. to an affiliate of IP Edge LLC) as well as at least one assignment suggesting that new litigation is coming (i.e. to Red Dragon Innovations, LLC). August has also seen clean-up activity by Intellectual Ventures LLC in an ongoing automotive campaign.