Banertek LLC v. Grindr LLC DC

Mozly Tech LLC has added four new defendants to its sole litigation campaign, accusing HubSpot (2:17-cv-00446), LexisNexis (2:17-cv-00447), RingCentral (2:17-cv-00448), and SAP (2:17-cv-00449) of infringing a single patent (7,367,044) generally related to managing account permissions over a network of secure servers. As in most of its previous complaints, the plaintiff—an affiliate of IP Edge LLC—alleges infringement through the provision of customer relationship management (CRM) software.

In late March, Banertek LLC, an affiliate of monetization firm IP Edge LLC, added yet another round of defendants to the long-running assertion in the Eastern District of Texas of a single patent (6,839,731).  The ‘731 patent generally relates to network-based remote device control and communication. The new defendants are ABB (2:17-cv-00241), Eaton (2:17-cv-00242), Emerson Electric (2:17-cv-00243), Endress + Hauser (2:17-cv-00244), Pepperl + Fuchs (2:17-cv-00245), Siemens (2:17-cv-00246), and SMAR (2:17-cv-00247). Each complaint in this round accuses the defendant of infringement through provision of distributed control systems that include devices that utilize the HART (Highway Addressable Remote Transfer) or the WirelessHART open standard communication protocols. Roughly a month later, a subsidiary of Emerson, Emerson Process Management, has now filed a case (1:17-cv-00395) against Banertek, alleging that the NPE sued the wrong defendant and seeking a declaratory judgment from the Western District of Texas that it does not infringe the ‘731 patent.

A new Texas NPE called Reef Mountain LLC has picked up the assertion of yet another patent (8,239,481) that Olivistar LLC, an entity managed by patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC, has litigated against many defendants in the past. The new complaints target Aviglion (5:16-cv-00132), Edimax Computer (5:16-cv-00133), Flir Systems (5:16-cv-00134), Swann Communications (5:16-cv-00135), TP-Link (5:16-cv-00136), TRENDnet (5:16-cv-00137), Ubiquiti Networks (5:16-cv-00138), and Vivotek (5:16-cv-00139). The ‘481 patent generally relates to the remote control of devices, and the accused devices are networked cameras. Olivistar has now offloaded five of the six patents that it appears to have owned to four new, apparent IP Edge entities, three of which have launched litigation.

Two newly formed Texas NPEs—Autumn Cloud LLC and Banertek LLC—have launched litigation campaigns on the same day. Each NPE has asserted patents transferred to it from Olivistar LLC, itself an NPE, managed by the three principals of patent monetization firm IP Edge LLC, which has previously litigated the patents in its own name. These latest patent transfers to recently formed entities, followed by new litigation of the same patents under a plaintiff with a new name, appears to be a developing pattern for entities affiliated with IP Edge.