Hanger Solutions, LLC

Hanger Solutions, LLC, an IP Investments Group LLC (d/b/a IPInvestments Group) NPE, has added a case against Altice (Cequel Communications) (6:22-cv-00330) to the litigation campaign that it began in January 2021 with a suit against Extreme Networks. The defendant is accused of infringing five wireless communications patents—two of which are new to litigation—through the provision of the Suddenlink Internet service’s “Website Infrastructure”, as well as its use of certain VMware products.

Hanger Solutions, LLC, an IP Investments Group LLC (d/b/a IPInvestments Group) NPE, has sued Charter Communications (6:22-cv-00070) in the Western District of Texas over the provision of Spectrum Web Services and certain VMware products. Asserted are the same three patents in Delaware complaints filed against Extreme Networks (last January) and Squarespace (last May). The new complaint appears to be a draft document, rather than a finished document, with alleged, inadvertent transpositions in pleadings filed by Hanger’s “sister” NPE DataCloud Technologies, LLC already featuring rather prominently in that campaign.

This past June, the first two campaigns of Callstat Solutions LLC each got off to a rocky start. In both, the NPE asserted patents picked up from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) that had been invalidated under Alice in the past. The cases—one against Garmin, the others against Nordstrom and Xerox—were dismissed without prejudice within a couple of weeks. Now, Callstat has rebooted each of those campaigns, suing Boxer Parent (BMC Software) (6:21-cv-00911) in one and HP (6:21-cv-00912) in the other, both over different patents. The NPE has also opened a third campaign, this one targeting HTC (6:21-cv-00913) and Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (6:21-cv-00914) with two other former IV patents.

USPTO records confirm that a subset of the thousands of patent assets divested by Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) to a subsidiary of IP Investments Group LLC (d/b/a IPInvestments Group) have made their way to yet another NPE, Foothills IP, LLC, which recently kicked off its inaugural litigation campaign. With Foothills IP holding a large portfolio of former IV assets, including patents originating with major operating companies, more litigation from the NPE—formed by a familiar face in the IP space—appears imminent.

RPX data indicate that since 2016, NPEs have collectively launched over 80 separate litigation campaigns asserting patents received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). Meanwhile, the outflow of patents from IV persists, and divestments executed last year (primarily during the fourth quarter of 2019) continue to be recorded with the USPTO—many preceding the start of new NPE campaigns.

The last time that Hanger Solutions, LLC—a Georgia NPE associated with monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group)—assigned a set of the thousands of former Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) patents that it picked up late last year, the recipient, 21ST CENTURY GARAGE LLC (21st Century Garage), filed suit within weeks. Earlier this month, the transfer of two patents from Hanger Solutions to Kioba Processing, LLC, also associated with IPinvestments Group, was both executed and recorded, suggesting that another new campaign is imminent. The transferred patents generally relate to fraud prevention in “network based transactions” and name David P. Cook, the founder of Blockbuster Video, as their sole inventor.

In mid-May, RPX reported on the connection between a bushel of the Georgia LLCs in receipt of thousands of patent assets divested by Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) to that state’s monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group). Now, several of those LLCs have filed suit, with CDN Innovations, LLC opening up a wireless communications campaign; CommWorks Solutions, LLC, networking litigation; and DigiMedia Tech, LLC, a digital camera campaign. It may not be long before the others pick patents to assert in litigation of their own.

A series of annual statements filed in Georgia have identified an executive at Atlanta-based patent monetization firm IPInvestments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group) as an “Authorized Person” for a group of NPEs that collectively acquired thousands of patent assets from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) late last year. Meanwhile, this past week saw the first outbound assignment by one of those Georgia NPEs come to light, involving over 70 US assets—followed in short order by the new assignee’s inaugural patent suit, filed against Hyundai. Patents originating with Daimer Chrysler or Intel are among those asserted.

The late 2019 peel off by Intellectual Ventures, LLC (IV) of more than 3,500 US assets to a batch of Georgia NPEs has ousted Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC from its long-held position as the top NPE assignee of IV divestitures. Meanwhile, as discussed in RPX’s Q1 in Review blog post, throughout the first quarter, NPEs continued filing new litigation asserting patents received from IV, hitting a broad range of targets, including over patents developed by major operating companies.

Last week, RPX noted a series of late-2019 patent assignments from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) to a batch of newly formed NPEs with apparent ties to an Atlanta law firm. With additional IV divestures to that group having since been made public by the USPTO, the scope of the transactions—which collectively involved upwards of 3,500 US assets, including many developed by major operating companies—is now coming into focus.

Public records suggest that a batch of newly formed NPEs, with apparent ties to an Atlanta law firm, are gearing up to assert multiple patent portfolios received late last year from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). The transacted portfolios—which were divested by IV in mid-November—comprise hundreds of US assets, as well as a number of foreign counterparts, and include patents originating with operating companies spanning multiple industries.