Lazer IP LLC, an entity associated with Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC, has fired off another round of suits in its sole litigation campaign, suing Microchip Technology (1:21-cv-01026),  Silicon Laboratories (1:21-cv-01028), and STMicroelectronics (1:21-cv-01029) in the District of Delaware and Renesas (6:21-cv-00734) in the Western District of Texas. The NPE asserts a single patent generally related to a system for programming components into an electronic device in which “modularized user component modules” define “functional components”. Infringement allegations target the provision of “device editor systems” for configuring microcontroller devices: for Microchip, the MPLAB Code Configurator; for Renesas, e² Studio; for Silicon Laboratories, Simplicity Studio; and for STMicro, STM32CubeMX.

RPX data and analysis indicate that while approximately 85% of the patent litigation filed each year since 2005 has involved patents that originated with operating companies, the vast majority of defendants in those cases were sued by NPEs. This trend persisted through the first quarter of 2021, with new cases brought by a range of NPEs, including serial filers, a publicly traded NPE, and multiple third-party backed plaintiffs.

Texas monetization firm IP Edge LLC has fired off a barrage of litigation at the end of January, adding multiple cases to existing campaigns and initiating several new ones, among them Lazer IP LLC’s separate Delaware complaints filed against National Instruments (1:21-cv-00097), NXP Semiconductors (1:21-cv-00098), and TI (1:21-cv-00099). Lazer IP asserts a single patent generally related to a system for programming components into an electronic device in which “modularized user component modules” define “functional components”, accusing the defendants of infringement through the provision and use of certain semiconductor design systems.