April 19, 2012- On April 17th Anu IP [NPE] filed 30 separate suits in the Eastern District of Texas against Aluratek, Archos, Bluestar Alliance, Centon, Coby, Corsair, Emtec, General Imaging, iRiver, JVC, Latte Communications, Lexar, Maxell, Office Depot, Olympus, Option, Panasonic, Patriot Memory, Provantage, Ritek, Sakar, Samsung, Sanyo, Silicon Power Computer, Supersonic, Super Talent Technology, Toshiba, ViewSonic, Voxx, and Yamaha, alleging that the defendants’ thumb drives and various other consumer electronics devices with memory storage capabilities infringe one or two patents- 6,979,310 and 7,090,515 (depending on the defendant) related to a memory storage devices with retractable USB connectors. In addition to the district filings, Anu IP filed an ITC complaint against the same defendants and added one new defendant, Aiptek.  The patents-in-suit were previously assigned to Ennova Direct, before they were assigned to Anu IP in December 2011.  Anu IP is represented by Andrew Spangler. RPX reviewed the ’210 patent as an acquisition opportunity offered through ICAP Ocean Tomo in September 2009. Anu IP’s domestic industry argument is based on the prior assertion and licensing activities by Ennova. Anu’s ITC complaint attributes Ennova’s commercial failure in 2008 to “widespread infringment of its patents”. Ennova asserted the ’210 patent in a suit filed in 2008 against A-DATA, Flash Ventures, Kingston Technology, LG, Nspire, Philips, PNY, Sony, Thomson, Transcend, and Verbatim. Following a transfer, the litigation was concluded in December 2010 prior to the claim construction hearing that was scheduled for February 2011.