Ford (2:24-cv-12904) and Subaru (2:24-cv-00909) are the latest defendants to be added to the sole litigation campaign of VDPP LLC, which has seen over 70 defendants sued since its launch in August 2019. The three patents-in-suit, asserted in overlapping sets, are broadly directed to generating and/or displaying a modified video. The defendants are accused of infringement through the provision of their respective backup camera systems. Meanwhile, prior defendant TP-Link has filed a declaratory judgment (DJ) action (8:24-cv-02456) against VDPP, seeking a judgment of noninfringement as to one of those three asserted patents. Despite a recent judgment holding VDPP and its counsel, Ramey LLP, jointly and severally liable for more than $207K in shifted attorney fees, VDPP has once again selected Ramey LLP to represent it in its new affirmative infringement complaints.

Intel (MobilEye, MobilEye Vision Technologies) (0:24-cv-04149) has filed a declaratory judgment action against Facet Technology Corp. in the District of Minnesota. It concerns the same two patents that Facet asserted against MobilEye Global in an Eastern District of Texas case filed this past January. There, in early September, District Judge Robert W. Schroeder III allowed Facet Technology 60 days of venue-related discovery, with leave to amend thereafter, given the defendant’s successful motion to dismiss the original complaint “as lacking a plausible venue allegation”. Elsewhere, Facet Technology’s standing to sue has been challenged.

After suing Toyota in early October, AutoConnect Holdings LLC has filed a complaint against General Motors (2:24-cv-00877), also in the Eastern District of Texas, asserting ten patents that overlap with those already in suit. Again at issue is the provision of a wide array of automobiles, vehicle systems (e.g., in-vehicle multimedia systems), mobile apps, and related hardware and software components, with a focus on features like the support for Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto platforms, security measures, user device profiles, and more.

VDPP LLC has filed two new complaints, one in the Southern District of New York against TATA Motors (Jaguar Land Rover North America) (2:24-cv-10029), targeting the provision of the Jaguar Surround View System, and another in the Southern District of New York against Savant Systems (1:24-cv-08139), targeting the provision of certain surveillance cameras. Two different patents are asserted, both from a family broadly directed to modified images and/or videos. New counsel for VDPP has filed the complaints in each forum, as former mainstay Ramey LLP moves on an emergency basis to protect the retirement account of its principal, in light of an earlier order holding him jointly and severally liable for $207K in shifted attorney fees.

New Mexico plaintiff Peregrine Data LLC has sued Lytx (1:24-cv-01177) in a new District of Delaware complaint. Asserted is a single patent generally related to recording all events around a vehicle, where each camera operates separately and individually records to a separate file, with infringement allegations targeting the provision of the Lytx DriveCam intelligent dash cam, as used with additional cameras connected to a “hub” (apparently the Lytx Hub Adapter) to capture images around the body of a vehicle of that vehicle’s trip, other vehicles on the road, road conditions, and events such as collisions and hard braking.

As predicted a couple of months ago, AutoConnect Holdings LLC has begun litigating, accusing Toyota (2:24-cv-00802) of infringing 11 patents from a recently growing portfolio. Toyota is accused of infringement in the Eastern District of Texas complaint through the provision of a wide array of automobiles, vehicle systems (e.g., in-vehicle multimedia systems), mobile apps, and related hardware and software components. At issue are features such as support for Toyota’s Digital Key, face identification, and User Profiles features, as well as the support for Apple’s CarPlay and Google’s Android Auto platforms.

Western District of Texas District Judge Alan D. Albright frequently found himself at odds with the Federal Circuit over his handling of transfer motions just a few years ago, peaking in a wave of mandamus rulings against him in 2021. That June, Judge Albright—at that point still swimming against the tide on transfers—issued an expansive pair of rulings that found venue to be proper against Hyundai and Volkswagen based on the presence of third-party car dealerships in his district. This prompted a sharp rebuke and reversal by the Federal Circuit, which in March 2022 precedentially held that he was wrong to find an agency relationship between the automakers and those dealerships. Now, with his conflict with the Federal Circuit largely in the rear-view mirror, Judge Albright has heeded the court’s prior warning, rejecting another dealership-based venue argument in transferring a case filed by two Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV) plaintiffs against Zhejiang Geely (Volvo) to the District of New Jersey.

Patent assignments recently made public by the USPTO reveal several notable moves, including the transfer of 175 US assets, generally related to semiconductor fabrication and circuit structures, into curious hands; the transfer of a handful of patents from an individual inventor working in the AI space to a “Patent Licensing and Enforcement” vehicle formed earlier this month; and the transfer of an entire portfolio of connected vehicle patents, after an asset acquisition in the volatile EV space earlier in 2024.

On July 11, 2024, Southern District of Texas Judge Lee H. Rosenthal ruled a case against Volkswagen exceptional, holding plaintiff VDPP LLC and its counsel, Ramey LLP, jointly and severally liable for reasonable attorney fees incurred in defending it. This past week, the court quantified that award, shifting a total of $207,543.60. In doing so, the court declined VDPP’s invitation to “allocate the fees between the frivolous and nonfrivolous aspects of the case” because “[i]t was all frivolous”. Undeterred since that July 11 order, VDPP has filed new complaints in various districts, one against each of Casio, Dell, Digital Projection, GeoVision (USA Vision Systems), Giga-Byte Technology, Hon Hai Precision Industry (Belkin), Lenovo, Leyard Optoelectronic (Planar Systems), MediaTek, Pioneer (Pioneer Electronics), Qualcomm, Resideo Technologies, Roku, Senao Networks (EnGenius Technologies), STMicro, and TP-Link.

A couple of weeks ago, RPX noted “A Trio of Patent Transfers Worth Watching” (July 2024), which turned out to be fairly accurate, as two of the recipients—Cloud BYTE LLC (see here) and Light Guide Innovations LLC (see here)—have each launched litigation over their received assets. The third transfer from that article could also lead to litigation, as might this week’s highlighted transaction, from Orange to Transpacific IP Group Limited. In addition, two other sets of recorded assignments suggest that additional litigation might be coming, one from a party already involved in a case and one from a party that has yet to file suit.