Digitech Image Technologies, a subsidiary of Acacia Research, filed five separate suits against  Acer, Apple,  ASUS, Motorola Mobility, and Toshiba alleging that the defendants’ tablets and smartphones infringe a patent related to digital image capture and rendering on a device. The Digitech campaign, launched in August 2012, previously targeted camera makers and retailers in 31 suits over the same patent. Digitech was also involved in litigation activity involving a declaratory judgment initiated by Sony in July 2012. On December 11, 2012, Judge Andrew Guilford granted Sony’s motion to dismiss based on “first-filed” case status and lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The patent-in-suit was originally issued to Polaroid in October 2000 and was assigned to Mitcham Global Investments (along with other patents from bankrupt Polaroid) in January 2010.  According to the USPTO assignment database, Mitcham assigned five US patents (including the in-suit patent) to Digitech Image Technologies in May 2012. 12/7, Central District of California, assigned to Judge Andrew J. Guilford and referred to Magistrate Judge Robert N. Block, 8:2012cv02122; assigned to Judge Cormac J. Carney and referred to Magistrate Judge Jean P. Rosenbluth, 8:2012cv02123; assigned to Judge Josephine Staton Tucker and referred to Magistrate Judge Marc L. Goldman, 8:2012cv02125; assigned to Judge James V. Selna and referred to Magistrate Judge Robert N. Block, 8:2012cv02126; assigned to Judge Josephine Staton Tucker and referred to Magistrate Judge Arthur Nakazato, 8:2012cv02127.