The recipient of nearly 100 US patent assets from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) this past June, Buffalo Patents, LLC has begun litigation, suing BBK Electronics (OnePlus) (6:21-cv-01063), Coolpad (Yulong Computer) (6:21-cv-01061), HTC (6:21-cv-01062), TCL Communication (6:21-cv-01064), and ZTE (6:21-cv-01065) in the Western District of Texas. Asserted are four patents described by the plaintiff as “generally relate[d] to internet and wireless network telephony”, with infringement allegations targeting the defendants over their respective alleged provision of smartphones that support Voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi) or Wi-Fi calling.

Communication Interface Technologies, LLC (CIT), a subsidiary of Equitable IP Corporation, has fired off another round of suits in its sole litigation campaign, begun last April, suing Applebee’s, Bloomin’ Brands (Outback Steakhouse), Choice Hotels, Jinjiang (Radisson Hospitality), Little Caesars, PNC, Red Lobster, Regions Financial, Texas Roadhouse, and UBS, each in the Western District of Texas. The patents-in-suit are generally related to maintaining a remote connection with a server through a mobile device, with the defendants accused of infringement through the provision of mobile apps that deliver push notifications from servers to mobile devices.

Be Labs, Inc. has filed another round in its file-and-dismiss litigation campaign, this time suing Cox (1:21-cv-01383), Datto (1:21-cv-01386), Humax (1:21-cv-01387), Starry (1:21-cv-01393), and Viasat (1:21-cv-01396), again over their respective provision of Wi-Fi devices, including routers and/or extenders (Cox, Humax, and Viasat), access points (Datto), and Wifi Hubs (Starry) that support certain Wi-Fi standards, including 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6), 802.11ac, and/or 802.11n. The complaints target various features of these devices, including MU-MIMO and beamforming support as well as parental controls.

Typhoon IP LLC has added a District of Delaware case against Robert Bosch (1:21-cv-01375) to the navigation systems campaign that it began in January of this year. Asserted are two of the three patents-in-campaign, generally related to determining alternate routes and the cost of a route, respectively, with infringement allegations targeting the provision of the Bosch eBike and Nyon Navigation System, a clip-on GPS navigation device for use with Bosch eBikes. The plaintiff is one of roughly a dozen apparent IP Edge LLC entities to litigate patents from among about 175 assets that the Texas monetization firm picked up from Empire Technology Development LLC between December 2020 and May of this year.

Aprese Systems Texas, LLC (f/k/a Aprese Systems) has picked its sole litigation campaign back up with a new Western District of Texas lawsuit against Volkswagen (Audi) (6:21-cv-01014). At issue is the support for Amazon, Apple, and Google virtual assistant platforms by in-dash multimedia systems within Audi automobiles. Aprese began this campaign in September 2019 targeting Roku over streaming devices, shifting focus to vehicle infotainment systems in a case against Jeff Hunter Motors and Toyota last November. The plaintiff has been asserting more members from a six-patent family with each complaint.

Bell Northern Research, LLC has filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission (ITC) against proposed respondents BBK Electronics (OnePlus), BLU Products, HMD Global, Lenovo (Motorola Mobility), Sonim, and TCL (TCT Mobile) (337-TA-3568). District court cases are already underway against several of these companies, with litigation filed by Bell Northern active against Apple, CommScope (ARRIS; Ruckus Wireless), Dell, and HP as well. The activities of one of the defendants no longer in suit in this campaign, Samsung, form the basis of the claim to a domestic industry that Bell Northern pleads, although it “reserves the right to rely on other or additional licenses, or its own substantial investments in licensing related to the Asserted Patents, to meet the domestic industry requirement”.

R2 Solutions LLC has filed suit against Roku (6:21-cv-00997) for a second time. The Acacia Research Corporation subsidiary again targets the provision of Roku’s media streaming platform, as well as related services, particularly certain features related to search and data analytics. Two former Yahoo patents picked up from among the roughly 2,500 that Acacia acquired last year through Excalibur IP, LLC are at issue in the first action, filed in the Western District of Texas in early June, with six more asserted in this second West Texas complaint, five appearing in litigation for the first time.

Multiple litigation finance players announced large fundraises during the third quarter, signaling a continued interest in the asset class by institutional investors. Also during Q3, several NPEs began new campaigns financed by third parties, including an established litigation finance firm as well as a hedge fund.

L2 Mobile Technologies LLC, an entity under the control of NPE Longhorn IP LLC, has filed a second lawsuit in its sole litigation campaign, accusing Ford (1:21-cv-01409) of infringement through the provision of automobiles and devices that are complaint with the 3G and/or 4G wireless communication standards. The five patents-in-suit, two of which are new to litigation, are broadly directed to wireless communications; in its complaint, L2 Mobile alleges that ASUSTek and/or Innovative Sonic Limited “declared before [the European Telecommunications Standards Institute] ETSI the Patents in Suit as essential to the 3G wireless communications standard”.

In the span of a single week, the Federal Circuit has reversed two more decisions from District Judge Alan D. Albright that denied convenience transfers, granting mandamus for the defendants in two separate cases: one filed by Jenam Tech, LLC against Google and the other filed by Correct Transmission LLC against Juniper Networks. These latest rulings continue a wave of mandamus writs issued in the past few weeks by the Federal Circuit against Judge Albright, the latest skirmish in a long-running battle over his handling of transfer motions that began in mid-2020. While Judge Albright briefly appeared to begin following the court’s guidance earlier this year, these subsequent appellate reversals indicate that the Western District of Texas judge may not intend to change course after all.