Garnet Digital [NPE] filed suit against AT&T Mobility, AT&T, Apple, Boost Mobile, Casio, Cellco Partnership, Dell, Google, HTC, HP, Huawei, Kyocera, LG, Leap Wireless, MetroPCS, Motorola Mobility, Pantech Wireless, RadioShack, RIM, STX Wireless, Samsung, Sharp, Sony Ericsson, Sprint Nextel, Sprint Solutions, T-Mobile, United States Cellular Corporation, Verizon, Virgin Mobile, and ZTE, alleging that defendants’  smartphones infringe a patent related to a telecommunications terminal that provides access to a remote database.  In an attempt to satisfy the new AIA rules regarding joiner, Garnet Digital argues in the complaint that the defendants are involved in “the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences” because they are “alleged to infringe the patent-in-suit with respect to a large number of overlapping smartphone products.”  This is the first patent infringement suit initiated by Garnet Digital.  The patent-in-suit originated with Laursar Communications, and was assigned to Garnet Digital by FTE Exchange in October 2011.  12/2, Eastern District of Texas, 6:2011cv00647.