WSOU Investments LLC v. Juniper Networks, Inc. DC CAFC

Last week, the Federal Circuit issued its first precedential reversal of a convenience transfer denial from Western District of Texas Judge Alan D. Albright. In its June 30 In re: Samsung ruling, the appellate court held that Judge Albright erred in denying such a transfer request by LG Electronics (LGE) and Samsung—calling out plaintiffs Ikorongo Technology, LLC (“Ikorongo Tech”) and Ikorongo Texas, LLC for attempting to “manipulate venue” and keep the case in West Texas, and faulting Judge Albright’s ruling on the merits. That decision has now led the Federal Circuit to undo the denial of a transfer motion in another case, this one against Uber, from that same campaign. Meanwhile, Juniper Networks has cited the ruling in its own mandamus petition, seeking to force Judge Albright to transfer a set of cases filed against it by WSOU Investments, LLC.

WSOU Investments, LLC (d/b/a Brazos Licensing and Development) has followed its mid-September suits against F5 Networks and Xilinx with seven new cases against prior defendant Huawei (6:20-cv-00889; 6:20-cv-00890; 6:20-cv-00891; 6:20-cv-00892; 6:20-cv-00893; 6:20-cv-00916; 6:20-cv-00917) and two against prior defendant Juniper Networks (6:20-cv-00902; 6:20-cv-00903), all in the Western District of Texas. WSOU asserts in each complaint a single patent from a large portfolio of assets received from Nokia (including from Alcatel-Lucent) since 2017, bringing the total number of patents asserted (one per case) against Huawei and Juniper Networks to 19 and seven, respectively. In its latest suits, WSOU continues its accusations against defendants over a wide range of networking hardware and software products.