The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) saw 54 petitions for AIA review brought against NPEs in May, up from 20 such petitions filed in April. May PTAB filings included a resurgence in petitions against publicly traded NPEs, including Acacia Research Corporation; Pendrell Corporation; Quest Patent Research Corporation; VoIP-Pal.com, Inc.; Xperi Corporation (f/k/a Tessera Holding Corporation); and Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN) (which was renamed to Quarterhill Inc. on June 1). A variety of private litigants were also hit by PTAB petitions in May, including Blackbird Tech LLC, Global Equity Management (SA) Pty. Ltd., General Patent Corporation, Realtime Data LLC, and Uniloc Corporation Pty. Limited.

Taiwanese entity Bing Xu Precision Co., Ltd. has filed suit against Acer (5:16-cv-02491), alleging that a Serial ATA (SATA) cable sold by the company infringes a single patent (8,512,071) generally related to a SATA connector assembly. This newest lawsuit comes after Bing Xu’s March dismissal of a January case against Acer that alleged infringement of the same patent (5:16-cv-00180).