eHierarchy, LLC v. BlackBerry Corporation

eHierarchy LLC, an entity associated with Texas monetization firm Endpoint IP LLC, has filed two new suits in its litigation campaign over patents from a data access and display family that issued to their sole named inventor. Verizon (Tumblr) (1:20-cv-00886), accused over the provision of its platform, and Verizon Media (1:20-cv-00887), accused over the provision of Yahoo Mail, are named as defendants in separate Southern District of New York complaints. eHierarchy’s new suits come amid the creation of the multiple new Endpoint IP entities in Texas, possibly foreshadowing more 2020 litigation.

RPX took note, among the USPTO assignment records made available during the first half of March, of the transfer of one set of patents to Fortress Investment Group LLC, after the NPE assignor’s default on a prior financing agreement. Fortress intervened in the campaign asserting some of those patents, bringing the litigation to a relatively rapid close. RPX also took notice of the transfer of patents from multiple assignors to another entity, Knapp Investment Company Limited, a British Virgin Islands entity that has never filed suit. The records made available in early March also contain transfers to frequent plaintiffs, including affiliates of patent monetization firms IP Valuation Partners LLC and Monument Patent Holdings, LLC, as well as Blackbird Tech LLC and Empire IP LLC.

eHierarchy LLC, an NPE affiliated with patent monetization firm IP Valuation Partners LLC (IPVal), has filed a second case in its campaign asserting patents from a data access and display family that issued to their sole named inventor. The new case accuses BlackBerry (2:17-cv-00225) of infringing two such patents (7,840,619; 8,280,932) through the manufacture and sale of its Passport smartphone. The complaint focuses on the accused product’s nested menu system.

Stoic Ventures LLC, an affiliate of IP Valuation Partners LLC (IPVal), has filed its first litigation, asserting a single wireless communications patent (9,356,763) against ZTE (2:17-cv-00032) and Le Technology, Inc. (2:17-cv-00062), a California-based subsidiary of Chinese company LeEco. Both defendants are accused of infringement through the provision of Android smartphones offering LTE connectivity.