Longhorn HD LLC. v. Giga-Byte Technology Co., Ltd. DC

In July, Longhorn HD LLC expanded two of its three litigation campaigns, adding suits against Elitegroup Computer Systems (2:21-cv-00278), Onex (Celestica) (2:21-cv-00280), and Pegatron (2:21-cv-00279) to its earliest litigation campaign, as well as a single suit against Kyocera (2:21-cv-00277) to its latest litigation campaign. The plaintiff asserts seven patents—one against Kyocera and six in overlapping sets against the remaining defendants—each acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) in several March 2018 assignments. Kyocera is alleged to infringe through the provision of smartphones that support Google’s device backup systems, while Celestica, Elitegroup, and Pegatron are accused over various devices (e.g., laptops, sensors, servers, storage devices, etc.), including those that incorporate hard disk drives (HDDs) manufactured by Western Digital (and/or its subsidiary Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST)).

Longhorn HD LLC has sued Atos (2:21-cv-00115), Best Buy (2:21-cv-00122), Broadcom (LSI) (2:21-cv-00114), Microchip (2:21-cv-00112), and Oracle (2:21-cv-00116), all in the Eastern District of Texas. The NPE asserts in overlapping sets seven patents that it received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) in a March 2018 assignment. The NPE’s infringement allegations target the provision of various computing devices (e.g., computers, laptops, sensors, servers, storage devices, etc.), including those that incorporate hard disk drives (HDDs) manufactured by Western Digital (and/or its subsidiary Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST)). At issue are features related to damage protection, hard drive monitoring, mechanical actuators, and server mounting hardware.

Longhorn HD LLC has launched a third litigation campaign, suing Samsung (2:20-cv-00350) in the Eastern District of Texas over a single patent, acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) and generally related to an “information backup system”. The NPE targets Samsung over the provision of smartphones that support Smart Switch, a technology for “seamlessly” upgrading from one model to another. Concurrently, Longhorn HD has added three new defendants to its existing network security campaign, hitting Mitel Networks (Mitel Software Technologies) (2:20-cv-00350), NetScout Systems (2:20-cv-00349), and Trend Micro (2:20-cv-00348), also in East Texas, over a variety of networking hardware and software products.

Earlier this year, Longhorn HD LLC added Eastern District of Texas cases against Compal Electronics, Hon Hai, Inspur Group, and Micro-Star to its computer hardware campaign, this past week also suing NEC (2:20-cv-00148) and Panasonic (2:20-cv-00150) in the same district. The NPE alleges infringement, of overlapping subsets of patents acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), through the provision of various computing devices, targeting features related to hard drive monitoring, mechanical actuators, and damage protection as well as server mounting hardware.

“Elite Gaming Technology, LLC” (EGT) has launched a new litigation campaign over patents apparently acquired from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), suing ASUSTek (2:20-cv-00059), Micro-Star International (MSI) (2:20-cv-00062), and Pegatron (ASRock) (2:20-cv-00060) in the Eastern District of Texas. The six patents asserted, of disparate origins, generally relate to computer hardware, with infringement allegations focused on long lists of computing devices (e.g., laptops, tablets, smartphones, etc.), some based on their inclusion of Intel chipsets or hard disk drives supplied by Western Digital (directly, or by Hitachi Global Storage, which Western Digital acquired in 2012). EGT pleads that it is a Texas LLC at an address that suggests that its name is actually Elite Gaming Tech LLC, an NPE of familiar management.

Longhorn HD LLC has added a suit against Huawei (2:19-cv-00212) to the computer hardware campaign that it began in May 2018. The NPE asserts against Huawei all seven patents-in-campaign, targeting a host of products, including devices featuring rack-mountable “blade” servers and “industrial personal computers” with “blind mateable” connectors, which are self-aligning connectors where the “mating” action happens when the entire device is slid into place; hard disk drives (HDDs) that include microactuators; laptops with fall sensors, including the Huawei MateBook X Pro, MateBook 14, and MateBook 13; servers that include hot-swappable ATA HDDs; and servers that include SMART-enabled HDDs.

Longhorn HD LLC has filed a second wave in the litigation campaign that it began last May, suing Advantech (2:19-cv-00061), Inventec (2:19-cv-00063), Pegatron (ASRock) (2:19-cv-00062), Quanta Computer (2:19-cv-00064), and Wistron (Wiwynn) (2:19-cv-00065) in the Eastern District of Texas. The NPE asserts four of the seven patents already at issue in the campaign, targeting the defendants’ provision of hard disk drives with SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Report Technology) functionality, rack-mounted computers, and “hot-swappable” ATA hard disk drives “configured with Redundant Array of Multiple Disks (‘RAID’)”. Longhorn HD acquired the patents, themselves of disparate origins, in March 2018 from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV).

Longhorn HD LLC, a Texas entity created in mid-January, has launched a new litigation campaign, suing Acer (2:18-cv-00221), ASUS (2:18-cv-00222), Fujitsu (2:18-cv-00223), Giga-Byte Technology (2:18-cv-00224), Hitachi (2:18-cv-00225), and MiTAC (2:18-cv-00226). Seven patents, developed at disparate sources but all apparently received from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), have been asserted across Longhorn HD’s complaints. Each of those pleadings targets servers and server enclosures with three of the patents: two generally related to connecting rack-mounted computers and the third to “hot-swappable” ATA hard disk drives. Acer, ASUS, and Fujitsu are further accused of infringing the other four patents, two of them through the provision of desktop computers that incorporate hard disk drives manufactured by either Hitachi or Western Digital and the other two through the manufacture and sale of certain laptop computers.