The last couple of years have seen Texas monetization firm Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC shift away from the acquisition of smaller families of patents from various sources toward the acquisition of large portfolios of assets—of former Kodak patents in March 2017, of former NEC patents in February 2018, and of former American Express patents in March 2018, all from Intellectual Ventures LLC (IV), as well as a large portfolio of assets acquired directly from Panasonic beginning in October 2018. Dominion (through subsidiaries of its litigation arm Monument Patent Holdings, LLC) has asserted patents from those large-portfolio acquisitions in litigation, and while it has continued litigating assets acquired prior to this strategy shift, that activity has dropped off. Assignment records recently made public by the USPTO suggest that, in addition, Dominion has begun to shed some of the smaller families that it had acquired under its earlier model.

The first week of September saw four new defendants added to a wireless communications campaign initiated by Cellular Transitions, LLC (CellTran) late last month. CellTran, an affiliate of Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC, has now hit ASUSTek, Razer, and LG Electronics (LGE) in the Central District of California; Huawei in the Eastern District of Texas; and Lenovo (with subsidiary Motorola Mobility) in Delaware. The defendants are accused of infringing two patents developed by NextWave Wireless (acquired by AT&T in 2013); CellTran’s infringement allegations focus on smartphones supporting LTE Advanced and Licensed Assisted Access (LAA).

Earlier this month, RPX pointed to newly released assignment records indicating that Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC would soon launch a campaign asserting patents acquired from Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN). On August 23, Dominion affiliate Cellular Transitions, LLC (CellTran) did just that, suing LG Electronics (3:18-cv-01955) in the Southern District of California over the provision of smartphones supporting LTE Advanced and Licensed Assisted Access (LAA). The asserted patents appear to have been developed by NextWave Wireless (acquired by AT&T in 2013).

USPTO records suggest that Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC could be gearing up to launch a campaign asserting patents acquired from Wi-LAN Inc. (WiLAN). The tell-tale patent transfer was executed between two Dominion affiliates in early August and includes patents developed by operating companies, including a subsidiary of AT&T.