Sonohm Licensing LLC v. Tangent Computer Inc.

Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC recently moved two of the 30 US patents that it acquired from Siemens in October 2018 to a new entity, Bunker IP LLC, which has now asserted those two patents in separate suits filed against Deutsche Telekom (T-Mobile) (1:21-cv-00483), DISH Network (DISH Wireless) (1:21-cv-00482), and ZTE (1:21-cv-00484) in the Northern District of Illinois and against TCL (1:21-cv-00088) in the District of Delaware. Myriad IP Edge plaintiffs have litigated patents from that former Siemens portfolio, including Q3 Networking LLC, which filed a complaint before the International Trade Commission (ITC), pleading that it would support a domestic industry claim by “promptly seek[ing] detailed discovery of Siemens’ domestic industry activities and investments related to the Asserted Patents and claimed technology through subpoena or through cooperation”. Q3 Networking has apparently proceeded via subpoena.

Sonohm Licensing LLC, a plaintiff affiliated with Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, has followed up its February case against Tangent Computer (3:20-cv-01511) with March suits against Avalue Technology (1:20-cv-00856), CONTEC (1:20-cv-00422), MilDef (1:20-cv-00423), Nex Computers (4:20-cv-02150), Superlogics (1:20-cv-10642), and VTech Holdings (Leapfrog Enterprises) (4:20-cv-02148), filed in a variety of judicial districts across the US. The NPE asserts in each complaint two patents generally related to wireless communication, with infringement allegations trained on a wide variety of devices alleged to use Bluetooth 4.0. After the February dismissal with prejudice of a declaratory judgment action brought by Amazon and the March dismissal with prejudice of an affirmative case against Mattel, the new suits join one open case in the campaign, active in the District of Utah against Juniper Systems.

Last week Amazon (3:19-cv-07474) filed a complaint against Sonohm Licensing LLC, an entity associated with monetization firm IP Edge LLC, seeking declaratory judgments of noninfringement as to its Fire series tablets. Sonohm Licensing sued Best Buy (among others) in August in the District of Delaware, targeting a wide range of products by various manufacturers with three former Siemens patents, specifically alleging infringement of two of those patents through the sale of Amazon Fire series tablets. Amazon pleads that it filed its case directly against Sonohm Licensing to prevent the NPE from securing “in terrorem settlements from retailers who decide they are ill-equipped to defend an unfamiliar technology and do not want their business relationships disrupted”.