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2019 Mid-Year Review: IV Assets Continue to Flow to NPEs, to OpCos, and into the Courts
Patent Market, Patent Watch
The first half of 2019 saw Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) continue to rapidly peel off patents, including to NPEs, with IV—according to publicly available documents—sometimes retaining an economic interest in the assertion of its divestitures. Meanwhile, new litigation involving former IV assets continues to crop up, with over ten new NPE campaigns filed in the past six months involving IV divestitures. RPX has published a comprehensive report identifying the top NPE assignees of IV divestitures since January 1, 2016, with brief summaries of NPE litigation campaigns resulting from notable transactions. The most recent version of that report can be downloaded from RPX Insight here.
June 18, 2019
DVR Campaign Adds New Defendants in Georgia
New Patent Litigation
SynchView Technologies, LLC has added three more defendants to the litigation campaign that it began roughly one year ago. ARRIS (1:19-cv-02726), Comcast (1:19-cv-02728), and Technicolor (1:19-cv-02726) are accused of infringing a single digital video recorder patent through the provision of certain DVRs (for ARRIS, certain Motorola and Pace DVRs; for Comcast, its Xfinity and other DVRs, as well as at least one Motorola DVR; and for Technicolor, certain of its Explorer DVRs). SynchView, an affiliate of Atlanta-based IP Investments Group LLC (d/b/a IPinvestments Group), filed its new complaints, as well as several filed earlier, in the Northern District of Georgia.
June 17, 2019
Dozens of Former IV Patents in Hand, New Entrant to Monetization Kicks Off First Campaign over “Smart Locks”
New Patent Litigation
In a new litigation campaign, Smart Locking Technologies LLC has sued Allegion (Schlage Lock Company) (1:19-cv-00994), Assa Abloy (August Home) (1:19-cv-00991), igloohome (1:19-cv-00992), and LockState (1:19-cv-00993) over two patents generally related to security devices. The recently formed NPE targets the defendants’ respective provision of the Schlage Encode Wi-Fi Deadbolt, August Smart Lock Pro, igloohome Smart Deadbolt, and OpenEdge Smart Lock—all smart locks that feature use of temporary access codes. The path that the asserted patents took into Smart Locking’s hands suggest that additional, affiliated campaigns may be coming.
June 16, 2019
Polaris PowerLED Hits Samsung Again as Judge Gilstrap Clears the Way for Trial Between the Two
New Patent Litigation
On the eve of its trial in the Eastern District of Texas in a case filed against Samsung in October 2017, Polaris PowerLED Technologies, LLC has filed a second suit against the company (2:19-cv-00229) in the same district. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap held a final conference on June 11, 2019 in preparation for trial over a single patent generally directed to setting the brightness level of an electronic display based on the ambient light level, targeting certain Galaxy smartphones and tablets as well as other products. The new complaint asserts a different patent, generally related to controlling a “backlight system”, accusing Samsung of infringement through the provision of certain televisions, particularly calling out “a local dimming feature that dims the backlight behind parts of the screen that are displaying black”. That patent is already at issue in the campaign, having been asserted in a September 2018 suit against VIZIO in the Central District of California.
June 15, 2019
New Mobile Device Keyboard Campaign Hits Apple, Google, Samsung
New Patent Litigation
Princeps Interface Technologies LLC has launched its first litigation campaign, suing Alphabet (Google) (1:19-cv-01102), Apple (1:19-cv-01101), and Samsung (1:19-cv-01103) over a single patent entitled “Universal keyboard”. The NPE accuses the tech giants of infringement through the provision of mobile devices—smartphones, tablets, and/or others (e.g., Apple’s iPod)—with keyboard setup and selection features that allow users to switch between keyboards in various languages and/or a menu of emojis. Princeps Interface acquired the patent now asserted in a mid-April 2019 assignment from named inventor Timothy B. Higginson and Yuvee, Higginson’s former enterprise.
June 15, 2019
AT&T Accused of Infringing Family of Allegedly Standard Essential, Former Pantech Patents
New Patent Litigation
Cellular Evolution LLC, an entity formed in Delaware on April 23, 2019, has filed suit against AT&T (AT&T Mobility, Cricket Wireless) (2:19-cv-00228) in the Eastern District of Texas. The NPE asserts all five members of a family originating with failed Korean mobile phone maker Pantech, alleging that each has been declared essential to the UMTS RRC Protocol (as identified in the ETSI Special Report SR 000 314). Cellular Evolution targets AT&T’s 3G network.
June 14, 2019
Federal Circuit Rules That States Are Not Immune from IPR
Patent Litigation Feature
Since early 2017, courts have grappled with the issue of whether the sovereign immunity held by states and Native American tribes could shield them from inter partes review (IPR). That debate was resolved in April as to Native American tribes, when the US Supreme Court declined to review a July 2018 Federal Circuit decision that tribal sovereign immunity does not apply to IPR. Now, the Federal Circuit has ruled that states similarly lack immunity from IPR, holding in an appeal of IPRs filed against the public University of Minnesota by Broadcom (Avago and LSI) and Ericsson that there was no reason to treat states differently from tribes in this context.
June 14, 2019
Tel Aviv University Takes a Second Run at Cisco with More Recent Patents
New Patent Litigation
Tel Aviv University (Ramot at Tel Aviv University Ltd.) has filed suit against Cisco (2:19-cv-00225) for the second time in the Eastern District of Texas, now asserting two later-issuing family members of patents briefly in suit there in 2014. The patents generally relate to converting digital electric data into modulated optical streams. Cisco is accused of infringement through the provision of fiber-optic networking equipment that allegedly utilizes electro-optical modulation techniques, including various Cisco 100G, 200G, and 400G optical modules.
June 13, 2019
Vindolor’s Payment Systems Campaign Hits More Retailers
New Patent Litigation
Vindolor, LLC continues to add defendants to its sole litigation campaign, last month adding suits against Target (6:19-cv-00338) and Walmart (6:19-cv-00339) that allege infringement of a single patent broadly related to using biometric authentication to create an “access code” based on a resulting identification profile. The NPE’s newest complaints target the retailers’ alleged sale of Apple and Samsung devices featuring Apple Pay or Samsung Pay.
June 12, 2019
New NPE Begins Litigating Former Lexmark Patents Among More Than 100 Received from Funai
Patent Market, Patent Watch
In April 2013, Japanese consumer electronics maker Funai Electric announced that it had agreed to acquire the inkjet-related technology and assets of IBM-spinoff Lexmark International for roughly $100M. The announcement was followed by Lexmark’s assignment of more than 1,500 US and foreign patent assets to Funai. Now, some of those patents are being asserted by recently formed NPE Slingshot Printing LLC—which earlier this year received more than 100 US assets from Funai—with assignment records suggesting that Funai might hold an economic interest in Slingshot’s litigation.
June 12, 2019