On January 13, 2025, Western District of Texas Judge Xavier Rodriguez shifted just over $60K in attorney fees in a case that CTD Networks LLC filed against Alphabet (Google) back in October 2022. In a separate order, Judge Rodriguez denied a Microsoft motion seeking a $100K sanction (under 28 U.S.C. § 1927 and Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11) against Ramey LLP for its representation of CTD. Per the court’s 1927 analysis, “Taking unreasonable positions is not necessarily vexatious behavior”, and the evidence that Ramey LLP disregarded its client’s instructions—a “certainly troubling” declaration from CTD’s (and AiPi’s) Eric Morehouse, balanced against arguably privileged emails that Ramey attached to his papers—could not overcome the applicable, clear-and-convincing burden of proof. Ramey LLP had sought its own sanctions, but Judge Rodriguez ruled that the firm, as former litigation counsel, lacks standing to pursue them.

Juries returned a series of sizable damages awards in patent infringement suits this past year. However, subsequent developments in some of the cases with 2024’s largest verdicts underscore how a jury verdict is frequently not the final word on damages—with the year’s top verdict, an $847M award in East Texas, falling apart entirely due to a post-trial ruling; four others increased at final judgment with the addition of interest, in one case this past week; and another trimmed by a posttrial noninfringement ruling. Here, RPX takes a look back at these and the other top ten verdicts of 2024.

USPTO assignment records indicate that three entities tied to Texas monetization firm Empire IP LLC have received patent portfolios from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV). The first of them, Fleet Connect Solutions LLC (FCS), received its assets in May 2020 and began suing over them that December, including in districts that impose heightened disclosure requirements on litigants. Last month, RPX reported that, according to certifications filed across those districts, “Not One Person Is Apparently Interested, Financially or Otherwise, in the Outcome of Fleet Connect’s Cases” (December 2024). Since then, FCS (represented by Rozier Hardt McDonough PLLC) has filed a series of amended certifications, providing a list of interested nonparties, beyond “None”, but FCS has yet to do so across the board, and the other Empire IP plaintiff litigating assets from IV has not amended its “none” certifications.

IoT Innovations LLC has filed a second suit against Resideo Technologies (Snap One) (2:25-cv-00022). Eight patents, familiar to the campaign, are asserted with the Eastern District of Texas complaint targeting the provision of Control4 Smart Home. Public records confirm that IoT Innovations is an Empire IP LLC plaintiff and that at least one Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) entity retains an interest in monetization proceeds from the asserted portfolio, but IoT Innovations just certified to the Central District of California, where it filed its last case, against Lutron Electronics, that there are no nonparties with a pecuniary interest in the outcome there. Insight, PLC signed that certification over a signature block containing litigation counsel Rozier Hardt McDonough PLLC.

Quantion LLC, a recently formed New Mexico entity, has filed suit against ENEA Group (2:25-cv-00018) and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (2:25-cv-00019) over the provision of Wi-Fi systems that support features for displaying advertisements to users. A single patent is asserted in the pair of Eastern District of Texas complaints, the patent generally related to opening a wireless communication session after displaying advertising content to a user.

Innovation Sciences, LLC has filed a Western District of Texas case against Xiaomi (6:25-cv-00013), reviving a litigation campaign that began back in October 2010. With six from a large family of patents, the plaintiff targets the provision of a long list of “TV products”, cameras, “robot vacuums”, and other “smart” appliances. After appeals, Innovation Sciences filed an April 2023 satisfaction of judgment, of roughly $90K in taxable costs paid to prior defendant Amazon, which won a shift of $722.7K in attorney fees for work performed after claim construction in a prior case filed against it in the same campaign, at which point that case became exceptional.

New Mexico plaintiff BillSure LLC has filed its first complaint, suing Amazon (2:25-cv-00020) in the Eastern District of Texas. The plaintiff asserts a single patent generally related to “enabling verification of billing data received from an operator of a network resource access gateway”. Amazon is accused of infringement through the provision of the AWS Billing and Cost Management platform, with the “Cloud Explorer” tool—which allows users to track their “spend pattern of AWS resources” for detecting cost anomalies—at issue.

Samsung (7:25-cv-00007) is the latest defendant to be added to the sole litigation campaign of WirelessWERX IP LLC, a plaintiff associated with Dynamic IP Deals, LLC (d/b/a DynaIP) and Pueblo Nuevo LLC. In the new Western District of Texas complaint, the plaintiff asserts a single patent generally related to “selectively communicating” with a device within “pre-defined geographical zones”. Samsung is accused of infringement through the provision of the SmartThings Find platform, with features for allowing users to receive notifications when a device arrives at or leaves certain locations (i.e., Zones) at issue.

The practice of third-party litigation funding (TPLF) continued to draw ire during Q4 from certain frequently targeted defendants, interest groups, and lawmakers, with increasing calls for transparency taking shape in a proposed bill that, if passed, will require disclosure of TPLF. Meanwhile, late 2024 saw the start of several funded patent campaigns initiated here in the US or at the Unified Patent Court (UPC), as well as some notable developments involving plaintiffs that RPX has tied, based on public records, to specific litigation funders.

Last week, RPX noted the December 2024 transfer of a portfolio of patent assets, broadly directed to semiconductor fabrication and/or circuit configuration, from Acorn Semi, LLC, a subsidiary of Acorn Technologies, to an entity tied to Texas monetization firm Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC. That transfer followed by one week an earlier pickup for Dominion, this one of a portfolio of gaming device patents.