Fleet Connect Solutions LLC v. Gentrifi LLC DC

Last month, District Judge Rodney Gilstrap of the Eastern District of Texas denied an attempt to compel Fleet Connect Solutions LLC—a plaintiff associated with the monetization firm Empire IP LLC—to produce litigation funding agreements related to the NPE’s patent suit against Waste Connections. Calling the defendant’s demand for such documents “a fishing expedition”, Judge Gilstrap found that Waste Connections failed to show that litigation funding agreements are relevant to any claim or defense in the case.

In June, RPX reported the May 2020 assignment of nearly 50 US assets by Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) to Fleet Connect Solutions LLC—a Texas entity recently formed by the principals of monetization firm Empire IP LLC. Fleet Connect has now filed its first lawsuits asserting those patents, targeting Dayton Freight Lines (4:20-cv-00280), Gentrifi (2:20-cv-00370), Goldberg Asset Management (d/b/a Efficient Fleets) (6:20-cv-01095), Melton Truck Lines (6:20-cv-01096), and Southern Glazer’s Wine and Spirits (6:20-cv-01097), formally across multiple campaigns but each over their alleged use of various Omnitracs vehicle fleet tracking systems, including electronic logging devices (ELDs), gateways, and/or telematics functionality.