In late 2019, NPE Daedalus Group LLC acquired roughly 600 former operating company patents, moving about 500 of those assets to Daedalus Blue LLC in January 2020. Daedalus Blue immediately filed its first litigation over patents from its received portfolio, suing SZ DJI Technology (a Chinese corporation) and DJI Europe (a “European” corporation) in the Western District of Texas over drones sold in the US under the DJI brand. At that point, it looked like direct assertion might be Daedalus Blue’s primary plan, but outbound assignments throughout 2020-2021 have presented an alternate approach, cutting the NPE’s holdings in half—and a remarkable order from District Judge Alan D. Albright, just unsealed in Daedalus Blue’s drone case, suggests why directly litigating can get . . . dicey.