Eloqui Voice Systems, LLC v. Nuance Communications, Inc. CAFC

On March 21, 2019, individual inventor Bao Tran assigned to California entity Rondevoo Technologies, LLC a portfolio that includes 16 US patents generally related to “nano” sensors, circuit elements, packaging, and genetic engineering. That same day, Tran assigned to Eloqui Voice Systems, LLC (EVS) a set of three US patents, two of them generally pertaining to speech recognition systems, and the third, to a “smart system powered by a light socket”. Both Rondevoo and EVS can be traced through Red Dragon Innovations, LLC to attorney Daniel C. Cotman of Cotman IP. With both Rondevoo and EVS already in litigation, over patents acquired separately, these latest transfers suggest that more campaigns or cases may be coming.

The past two years have seen a dip in US litigation filed by Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), which started only one new American campaign in 2017 and none the year before. However, available court records indicate that an offshoot of one of the NPE’s oldest remaining US campaigns—started in 2011 and targeting a host of wireless carriers—also remains active in Germany. Filed documents indicate that appeal hearings were held as recently as January 24 in cases against European carriers Deutsche Telekom, Telefonica, and Vodafone. The related US campaign is one of just two in which IV filed new litigation in 2017, during which time the NPE accelerated the pace of divestitures from its massive portfolio.

Nuance Communications (2:17-cv-00890) is the first defendant in a new campaign started by Eloqui Voice Systems, LLC, a California-based NPE managed by multiple entities controlled by attorney Daniel C. Cotman. The new complaint accuses Nuance of infringing four voice assistant patents apparently acquired from an Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) subsidiary through its Nina virtual assistant platform.