Bell Northern Research, LLC v Coolpad Technologies, Inc. et al DC

Bell Northern Research, LLC has filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) against proposed respondents BBK Electronics (OnePlus), BLU Products, HMD Global, Lenovo (Motorola Mobility), Sonim, and TCL (TCT Mobile) (337-TA-3568). District court cases are already underway against several of these companies, with litigation filed by Bell Northern active against Apple, CommScope (ARRIS; Ruckus Wireless), Dell, and HP as well. The activities of one of the defendants no longer in suit in this campaign, Samsung, form the basis of the claim to a domestic industry that Bell Northern pleads, although it “reserves the right to rely on other or additional licenses, or its own substantial investments in licensing related to the Asserted Patents, to meet the domestic industry requirement”.

Following an early September suit against Dell, Bell Northern Research, LLC has filed suits against CommScope (ARRIS; Ruckus Wireless) (6:21-cv-00941) and HP (6:21-cv-00939) in the Western District of Texas and TCL (2:21-cv-07323) in the Central District of California over a wide variety of devices (e.g., access points, computers, gateways, routers, smartphones, and TVs). At issue are the products’ compliance with various 802.11 networking standards, as well as the incorporation of alarm systems, heat spreaders, and proximity sensors. Separately, TCL has filed a declaratory judgment (DJ) action (3:21-cv-01598) against Bell Northern in the Southern District of California, seeking a judgment of noninfringement (of the same patents and one additional patent) by the same devices.

In mid-August, Bell Northern Research, LLC hit Apple and Lenovo with separate Western District of Texas lawsuits over overlapping subsets of the large portfolio of patents received from Broadcom. Now, Bell Northern has added a suit in the same district against Dell (6:21-cv-00909). Targeted is the provision of laptops and workstations, including various Alienware, G, Inspiron, Latitude, and XPS-series laptops, as well as Precision-series workstations, with a focus on the devices’ compliance with various 802.11 networking standards or the alleged incorporation of heat spreaders and multi-chip packages.

Cases against six prior campaign defendants having apparently been dismissed, Bell Northern Research, LLC has brought Apple (6:21-cv-00833) and Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) (6:21-cv-00847) into the fray, filing a suit against each in the Western District of Texas. Subsets of the large portfolio of patents received from Broadcom are again asserted, each defendant targeted over the provision of a range of devices, including products that allegedly operate according to the GSM/EDGE standard (Apple); operate according to the 802.11ac standard (both defendants); include instrumentalities for remotely triggering an alarm (Lenovo); and/or include a heat spreader assembly (both defendants). Contradictory corporate disclosure statements have been filed in Bell Northern’s newest cases, but the NPE has confirmed through multiple court filings (including in the Apple case) its connection to the financial services conglomerate Hilco, Inc. (d/b/a Hilco Global).

Bell Northern Research, LLC, a Hilco Inc. (d/b/a Hilco Global) company, has added a second case against Samsung (6:20-cv-00326) to its campaign over patents received in December 2017 from Broadcom. The first case against Samsung was filed in the Eastern District of Texas, originally asserting eight of those patents; this second suit has been filed in the Western District of Texas, asserting two more. The five other cases in this campaign, begun in August 2018, were filed in the Southern District of California, where District Judge Cathy Ann Bencivengo has stayed two, one each against Yulong Computer (Coolpad) and ZTE, in light of instituted trials in response to certain petitions for inter partes review (IPR); has dismissed two, one each against Huawei and Kyocera, in light of settlements; and continues to preside over the fifth, against LG Electronics (LGE).

A prior license agreement having expired on December 31, 2018, Bell Northern Research, LLC, a Hilco Inc. (d/b/a Hilco Global) company, has filed suit against Samsung (2:19-cv-00286) over five patents allegedly covered by that license, as well as three others already in suit in the campaign that Bell Northern began roughly one year ago. Certain Samsung smartphones, tablets, and “home or office electronics products” (e.g., smartwatches, laptops, TVs, home theater equipment, and Blu-Ray or DVD players) are targeted with the eight patents from among the portfolio of thousands received in December 2017 from Broadcom, having general subject matter ranging from wireless communication to battery conservation, integration of accelerometers to music playback with mobile devices, among other things. The new complaint avoids two patents, also previously in suit, perhaps in recognition of unfavorable rulings in a Southern District of California claim construction order handed down earlier this month.

Bell Northern Research, LLC, a Hilco Inc. (d/b/a Hilco Global) company, has added a lawsuit against LG Electronics (LGE) (3:18-cv-02864) to its sole litigation campaign, begun this past August with cases targeting devices provided by Huawei, Kyocera, Yulong Computer Communications (Coolpad Technologies), and ZTE. With the new complaint, ten patents from a portfolio of thousands received in December 2017 from Broadcom have been asserted across the campaign. LGE is accused of infringing eight of those patents through the provision of a wide array of products: cell phones compatible with certain 3GPP cellular standards and/or 802.11n or 802.11ac Wi-Fi; tablets supporting those Wi-Fi standards, some of which also offer 3GPP compatibility; various other “home or office electronics products” supporting those Wi-Fi standards, including “laptop computers, televisions, home theater equipment, and Blu-Ray or DVD players”; and “home appliance products” supporting those Wi-Fi standards, including “refrigerators, washers, and dryers”.

Bell Northern Research, LLC, a Hilco Inc. (d/b/a Hilco Global) company, has launched its first litigation campaign, asserting a subset of patents from a portfolio of thousands received from Broadcom. Last week, it sued Huawei (3:18-cv-01784), Kyocera (3:18-cv-01785), Yulong Computer Communications (Coolpad Technologies) (3:18-cv-01783), and ZTE (3:18-cv-01786), accusing each defendant of infringing up to six former Broadcom patents through the provision of smartphones with proximity sensors and that support 802.11n and/or 802.11ac Wi-Fi as well as multiple UMTS cellular data standards. Also at issue are the accused devices’ ability to maintain multiple types of network connections at once (e.g., holding a voice call while switching between cellular and Wi-Fi data).