Bear Creek Technologies [NPE] filed five separate suits against Aptela, Charter, Cox, Lingo, Primus, and Verizon over a patent related to VoIP technology.  Joseph Thompson is the named inventor on the patent-in-suit and owns 100% of the stock in BCT Holdings, Inc., which in turn is the majority shareholder of Bear Creek Technologies.  In 2004, Bear Creek Technologies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize its finances after losing a $3.4 million verdict in a breach-of-contract suit filed by BellSouth Intellectual Property Marketing Corp.  In February 2011, Bear Creek Technologies filed suit against AT&T, Cablevision, Comcast, Cox, Mediacom, Qwest, Time Warner Cable, T-Mobile, Verizon, 8×8, and nine others over the same patent.  In August 2011, Bear Creek also filed suit against 8×8, AT&T, CSC Holdings, Mediacom Communications, Qwest Communications, Time Warner Cable, T-Mobile, and Vonage. 8/17, Eastern District of Virginia, 2:2011cv00460; 3:2011cv00540; 1:2011cv00879; 2:2011cv00461; 1:2011cv00880.