Fundamental Innovation Systems International LLC has filed a new round of cases in its sole litigation campaign, suing Aukey (2:20-cv-00116), BBK Electronics (OnePlus) (2:20-cv-00119), Jasco Products (2:20-cv-00118), and Yulong Computer (Coolpad) (2:20-cv-00117) in the Eastern District of Texas; Hon Hai Precision Industry (Belkin) (1:20-cv-00550), Lenovo (1:20-cv-00551), and TCL (TCT Mobile) (1:20-cv-00552) in the District of Delaware; and BLU Products (1:20-cv-21721) in the Southern District of Florida. The NPE has targeted, with patents acquired from BlackBerry, the provision of USB charging devices (e.g., charging adapters, battery packs, electrical outlets equipped with USB ports, etc.), as well as mobile devices that include USB charging devices (e.g., Chromebooks, laptops, smartphones, and tablets), throughout this campaign, which began back in December 2016.

A week following Apple’s early February declaratory judgment (DJ) complaint against Fundamental Innovation Systems International LLC (FISI) in the Northern District of California, the NPE has brought a separate infringement suit (2:19-cv-00048), asserting five of the 12 patents-in-suit in Apple’s DJ. FISI’s complaint, filed in the Eastern District of Texas on February 11, targets a similar list of products, including certain charging adapters, mobile devices, wireless earbuds, Bluetooth speakers, and wearables, but also adding certain Mac laptops (the “Macbook Pro 4th Gen, Macbook 8, Macbook 9, Macbook 10 and Macbook Air 8”). The patents asserted are a subset of hundreds acquired from BlackBerry in late 2015 and include patents previously litigated by FISI in cases against Huawei, LG Electronics (LGE), and Samsung (each of which subsequently took licenses to the FISI patents, according to the NPE), as well as ZTE (which was sued in early 2017 and remains active in litigation).

Apple has brought a declaratory judgment (DJ) action against Fundamental Innovation Systems International LLC, an NPE with active campaigns in the US and Europe, and its corporate parent, Fundamental Innovation Systems International Holdings LLC (collectively, “FISI”). Apple’s DJ complaint (3:19-cv-00638), filed on February 5 in the Northern District of California, seeks a judgment of noninfringement for three categories of products that include certain adapters, mobile devices, and wearables. The 12 patents-in-suit originated with BlackBerry and include a group of USB charging patents that FISI has asserted in a campaign hitting Huawei, LG Electronics (LGE), Samsung, and ZTE. They were among the roughly 200 patent assets that BlackBerry assigned to FISI in a late 2015 transaction—a multi-million dollar deal, according to public records, that was embroiled in strife and gamesmanship.

Fundamental Innovation Systems International LLC (FISI) has filed its first litigation, asserting a group of USB charging patents, acquired from BlackBerry late last year, against Huawei (2:16-cv-01424) and LG Electronics (LGE) (2:16-cv-01425). Each defendant is accused of infringement through the provision of devices that offer USB fast charging, which allows connected devices to draw more power than the USB specification typically allows. LGE is alleged to infringe four of the patents in FISI’s portfolio (7,239,111; 7,834,586; 8,232,766; 8,624,550) through the provision of mobile devices, monitors, and chargers offering such features, while Huawei is accused of infringing those same patents plus a fifth (7,893,655) through its own mobile devices and chargers.