Recorded patent assignments recently made public reveal patents on the move, to an NPE that appears to be collecting assets from a familiar source as prior litigated patents run into PTAB trouble; to an entity managed by what appears to be a relatively new monetization operation standing up; to a recent entrant into the litigation funding space; to entities associated with a frequent plaintiff-side law firm in Texas; and to a host of other plaintiffs recently filing suit.

On January 31, 2024, FG Innovation Company Ltd. (f/k/a FG IP Innovation Company Ltd.) (FGI) divested a portfolio of 35 assets, including 30 issued US patents, to a Texas entity, which moved the portfolio to a second Texas LLC the next day. This FGI divestiture is the sixth to an apparent US NPE since May 2021, to date four of the prior five recipients having launched litigation over the patents received.

After a two-year litigation hiatus, Better Mouse Company, LLC has brought its sole litigation campaign back to life, suing Acer (5:20-cv-07895), Kingston Technology (8:20-cv-02166), and VTIN Technology (2:20-cv-10269) over the sale of certain computer peripherals. The new cases have been filed in the Central and Northern Districts of California, which require the disclosure of nonparties interested in the outcome of the litigation, despite which Better Mouse has filed the less stringent identification of any corporate parent (none) and of any publicly traded entity holding ten percent or more of the plaintiff’s stock (none).